A Single Strand
by Nocturnal Muse
Summary: Inu Yasha was a biogenetic experiment in Youkaibo. Kagome, mearly a librarian helper. Kagome awakens Inu Yasha, and they flee. Now, Kagome has to live with her selfish actions as the Inu group 're' unite for one common cause.
1. Awakenings

A Single Strand

Full Summary: Inu Yasha was a biogenetic experiment in Youkaibo. Kagome, merely a librarian helper. Kagome awakens Inu Yasha, and they flee. Now, Kagome has to live with her selfish actions as the Inu group 're' unite for one common cause, the downfall of the hated Youkaibo, and it's leader, Naraku. A/U!

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Prologue

In this story, we live artificial lives; started in a petree dish, formed by our ancient half-dead DNA. Humans wiped us out a long time ago, but now they want us back. Youkaibo is the answer to that call. But we wont give up our ways, or our freedom, with out a fight, even if it costs us the world.

……………

Chapter 1

Awakening

Kagome walked down the spotless hallway, short high heels clicking slightly. Her white lab coat and skirt swayed in tune with her steps. As she walked, a little boy on her shoulder tied back raven black hair.

The little ball of fur sat back. Shippou was the size of a toddler. He had fluffy mahogany hair that was held out of his face with a ribbon. He was adorned in a blue t-shirt, black pants and a vest. The little boy had cute pointed ears and a fluffy tail.

The ears and the tail were uncommon out side of the building they were in. Youkaibo was the company that had researched biogenetic technology. After many experiments, they succeeded on creating a demon from an old DNA sample. With a single strand of DNA, the scientists at Youkaibo could create a demon. After a demon was created, they would be in suspended animation until their own kind of "Prince Charming" came and woke them up.

Kagome was Shippou's awakener.

Kagome's liquid brown eyes stared strait ahead as she carried the armful of books to the designated room. She was about to open the door, when it opened into her. All of the books fell to the floor.

An older woman smirked as she walked by. Most people said the two looked identical, but Kagome didn't think so. Sure they had the same hair and eye color, but there was so much more life in Kagome than Kikyou.

"Kagome, are you all right?" the little kit asked, concerned.

"Yes," she muttered as she knelt to pick up the fallen books. Shippou attempted to help, but the books were to heavy, so he was forced to push one to her.

Kagome threw a glance over her shoulder at the retreating form of the wench. "Some day Kikyou," she whispered.

After she had all the books in hand, Kagome stopped at the door to the lab. Memories swarmed her. She hated the place. She swallowed in attempt to regain her composure.

The room was far worse for demons. The things that were done to them in that room scared them for life. Shippou clung tightly to Kagome's neck, shivering with his eyes clamped shut.

Kagome entered the room. The door slowly swung shut behind her. It was a dark room, made worse by the horrid sounds that rent the air. Kagome shut her eyes and hurried to the desk.

"Kaede-san, I brought the books you wanted," Kagome stated with fake cheerfulness. She had opened her eyes and she set the books down on the desk.

"Thank ye, child," the old woman replied turning from what she was doing. Kagome refused to look, keeping her eyes trained on the old woman. Kaede's gray hair was tied back in a bun. Glasses accented her wisdom more than her failing sight. She smiled slightly as she looked at Kagome. "Still don't like this place?"

"Yeah, I can't forget what happened here."

"It will soon pass. Is my sister still causing problems for ye?"

"No," the young girl said quickly. "What makes you say that?"

"The books have a slight amount of dust on them. It is almost as if they have spent time on the ground."

"My hand slipped when I opened the door."

Kaede smiled knowingly. Kagome fidgeted. She was always had problems ratting out her "evil twin".

"Well, I think I ought to go. My duties will start to pile if I don't. Good luck with your experiments," Kagome called as she hurried out the door.

Once Kagome was out of the room, she leaned against the wall breathing like she had run the mile. After a few minutes, she felt better. Kagome took a bottle of perfume out of her pocket and squirted a few sprays onto her. Both of them took a deep whiff of the moon flower-scented air.

Kagome began to walk back to the library, once more the confident girl she had been. She passed at least a dozen doors before stopping at one.

"Short cut today, Shippou?" she asked quietly. She knew the kit enjoyed visiting the place of his "birth." Despite how others acted, Kagome tried to please her demon every once in a while.

"Really?" Shippou asked, tail flipping with excitement.

Kagome nodded smiling. This was one place she didn't mind going. She opened the door and walked in.

There were a bunch of round human-sized tubes lined in perfect lines. Inside, the DNA replicated itself to reform the creatures humans called "demons." Scientists scurried about, looking from one experiment to another without paying much attention to the library girl and her kit.

They walked by a gigantic aquarium and Shippou stared in awe. One of his brethren would grow to be that size, perhaps to be trained as a vicious fighter and used as a secret weapon in human warfare. It was awe-inspiring.

A glazed eye stared at the young demon as they passed. Shippou followed instinct and shrieked. Some of the scientists stared, but they didn't say anything.

"Hush, Shippou," Kagome reprimanded lightly.

They continued the walk. The little kit acted like a child at the zoo while Kagome kept the rule of dignified parent. A little ways in, something cracked behind them.

Kagome tuned slowly in time to see a form shatter the glass cage. It landed and knelt in the seeping puddle of excess DNA bases and other materials, as if submitting itself to her. It was clothed in white and had long silver hair that obscured its facial features.

All the scientists around flocked to the area. Once or twice a month, a demon would be awakened, but it was only once in a blue moon that one would break the glass. It was always a big event.

The demon shuddered as the humans crowded around it. Finally, it looked up, golden eyes filled with fright and a hint of annoyance underneath. He looked around frantically.

"Kagome," the figure whispered.

The scientists looked at one another. Who was Kagome?

One had enough sense to look at the stand. After clearing away some liquid, he announced, "Find Kagome. He's an important experiment. Find Kagome and take both of them to the experiment lab!"

Those words sent a course of fear down Kagome's spine. _Not there. Not again_. And he was a major experiment, so that would be worse. She'd have to go through the pains of watching a living thing being tortured for the agency again.

The scientists started surrounding the freshly 'hatched' demon, who panicked. "Kagome?" it shouted desperately.

No, Kagome decided. She wasn't going to go through with it. She wasn't going to watch it again. "Inu Yasha! Over here!" she called, gesturing. She didn't know why she had called him that, but it seemed right. She had done the same kind of thing with Shippou as well.

The scientists turned towards her and she ran, praying the new demon was smart enough to follow.

Inu Yasha took the opportunity to jump over the heads of the startled scientists. He ran swiftly towards the fleeing girl, catching up quickly. She squeaked as he caught her up in his arms and kept running.

Inu Yasha slammed into the door into a deserted hallway. "Which way, Kagome?" he asked.

"Left," Kagome stated after thinking a second.

Inu Yasha ran as Kagome rattled off directions. Shippou held on to Kagome's shoulder for dear life.

"Kagome, what are we doing? Are we leaving here?" the kit asked. He practically had to shout to be heard over the wind.

"Yes, Shippou. We're leaving here. We're leaving and never coming back."

Inu Yasha tried to bust down the door that would lead them outside, but it didn't budge. Kagome jumped down, trying to open it, but it was locked form the outside.

"No! No, no, no, no, no!" Kagome shouted as she struggled with the door handle. She banged once on the door before sliding down to the ground.

She heard footsteps echoing down the hall.

Inu Yasha smirked. "You want out, Kagome?"

"Yes," Kagome replied, voice heavy with defeat.

Inu Yasha's smirk widened. He snatched Kagome up into his arms and dashed down the hall. They passed Kagome's look alike Kikyou on the way out, leaving her flustered and disheveled. Kagome laughed, wishing she had a camera.

Then, Inu Yasha jumped high, causing the girl in his arms to cling to his neck, making him feel warm for unknown reasons. Then, covering Kagome and the kit with his body, he jumped through the window. Kagome screamed.

Inu Yasha fell through the air and landed, then kept running. He had no choice but to let his senses to guide him. With the way Kagome was looking around, he could tell she had never been truly out like this before.

His instincts eventually led him to a park, where he slowed to a walk. He saw a tall tree, and decided it was apt enough to hide them. He jumped into one of the higher branches. Inu Yasha sat Kagome down at the trunk and took a short distance out further on the limb.

"What was that all about?" Kagome's shout echoed and the nearby apartments heard it clearly.

Inu Yasha stuttered as he tried to explain himself.

……………

Liquid blue eyes watched through the murky substance, his vision blurred further by the glass. Everything looked odd, misshapen. He watched the humans scurry around like rodents, thinking that they were at the top of the food chain. He could tell with a single glance. It was sickening. They were wrong. Humans never would be at the top. No matter when, no matter the cause, they attacked their own kind.

Black hair fanned out around him, although he was too lost in thought to care. His thoughts trailed to escape, to finding the one who had woken him up. _Kagome_ the name rippled across his mind.

"Kagome. What a pleasant scent," he thought allowed. The scent had cut through even the glass, disturbing his sleep. It smelled of the moon. He was grateful he was awake. Sleeping for so long got boring.

One of the white clad men came forward, peering into the murky waters. The demon stared back at him.

The man leapt back in surprise, then he became eccentric. He called to his companions, who got the keys to the tanks.

Moments later, Kouga spilled out off the silver colored platform with most of the liquid as the glass retracted.

He was surrounded by humans. Pushing, prodding humans. He couldn't help but growl. His Kagome was not among them, so they didn't matter.

"Wolf demon" was echoed throughout the group. One asked if they should put a collar on him to tame his wild blood until they found his awakener.

They ushered him through the hall, surrounding him. He was given a small air pocket, but that was it. Kouga walked with his head down, thinking.

Since he was in the middle of the group, he heard all the things they were saying about him. Unclean, dangerous, a threat, an insult, nuisance. All the negative words made him feel unwanted, one of the only ones the humans themselves hadn't said.

Oh, did he hate them now. Those arrogant pricks who thought they ruled the world. He'd show them sooner or later.

They led him to the room. The room where his trials began. He thought he hated them now, but after that, what word could transcend hate?

……………

……………

Ok Peoples! For those of you who are jumping up and down, thinking I updated, sorry to disappoint. I figured I would work on this one (actually Pyro Blondie encouraged me to) so I started with re-reading it. I found errors and I changed chapter breaks, so that's what the big differences are. I added some, and took out some too.

For all you new commers, hey! So me a huge favor and Review after you finish reading, k? Hope you enjoy!

Oh, and by the way...I'm going to try and update every Friday. I just want to get it started right now, though, so...the 2nd chapter's going up Friday! Yay!


	2. Shopping on the Run

A Single Strand

Chapter 2

Shopping on the Run

"Naraku-sama," a female's voice called form behind a closed door.

The called man turned an odd, purple hued gaze to the woman as she entered the room. His secretary wore a traditional kimono in an odd colored pattern. Pearl earrings dangled from the lobes of pointed ears, proving her a demon.

"What is it, Kagura?" the man asked, his cold voice chilling her. She didn't show it though. The man wore a purple tuxedo and black slacks.

"It's one of the experiments. The hanyou one to be exact. That Kikyou woman saw him escape from the building after he broke out of the lab."

(A/N: one of the few Japanese words I'm still gonna use. Hanyou half breed it really long and tiring to type. The other ones, the prefix -sama and kit or kitsune, meaning fox.)

"Which lab?" he hadn't known the experiment was awake yet. Some one was going to be fired for that.

"Their home lab. Demons don't break out of any other ones."

"Ah, I thought so. Details on his escape?"

"It appears that he broke the glass when he awoke. Caused quite a stir among the scientists. Then he took off with his awakener in tow. They said it appeared to be her plan."

"His awakener? Who, pray tell, is that?"

"A little human girl. Her name is Kagome. She worked in the library as an assistant and awoke a small kit a year back," Kagura reported the snippet from the file she had found just before making her report. Receiving no reply to that, she asked, "Naraku-sama, what should we do?"

"Send some demons after them with orders not to kill either the hanyou or the girl. I have a few ideas about which ones to send, but you may choose the first. We'll have to see what they can do." After giving that order, he swiveled the chair around.

Knowing that was all she was going to get, Kagura bowed. "Yes, Naraku-sama. I will see to it right away."

She backed out of the room, still in the bowing position. After she left, Kagura sat at her desk and turned to her computer. She began typing furiously at the keyboard.

Naraku looked out the window that was overlooking the city. "Kagome, then. What a mysterious girl," he muttered lustfully, tapping his fingers together thoughtfully.

……………

Kagome opened her eyes, yawning and stretching. She screamed in surprise when she found two golden orbs staring at her.

Inu Yasha stood up. "Keh, finally up?"

Kagome looked up at him. The boy looked like an angel, clad in white from head to toe with silver hair. All he needed were wings and where the dog-ears were, a halo..._wait, dog-ears? _she asked herself. Kagome clambered to a standing position and walked over to Inu Yasha. He was a foot taller than her, so she had to reach up to stroke his ears.

Inu Yasha leaned into her touch. Kagome squealed with delight upon discovering that they were real.

"Ok, that was loud. Haven't your ever seen a demon before?" Inu Yasha asked, slightly agitated that she had stopped.

"Not one with ears like yours. They're so cute!" She had been distracted, but realized that she didn't know where they were. She looked around, confused. The building was small, cluttered and dark. She had been sleeping on an old bed in a corner.

Inu Yasha smirked. "You fell asleep. Almost fell out of the tree while you were at it. I found this place and brought you here."

"Why?"

"I need to protect the person who awakened me."

That was why, she realized. That was why they both knew each other's names, and why they were out in the first place.

A scratching sound came from the door and Kagome went to open it. A ball of fur hoped into her arms.

"Kagome, he's so mean!" Shippou cried.

Kagome gave Inu Yasha a deadpan look. The demon stared back blankly. "He's one of yours?" the dog-eared demon asked.

"Yes, he's my first, so you had no right to treat him like that."

"That's right. And, since I was her first, and you were her second, that means you're younger than me and have to call me big brother," Shippou said proudly.

"I ain't callin' you anything, shrimp."

"Inu Yasha, be nice," Kagome scolded.

"Why? He can't hurt me."

"Can so. I can protect Kagome, too."

"Have you ever been in a fight to test that?"

"Kagome's still here isn't she?"

Inu Yasha was about to respond, but out side, a door shut. A man's voice grew louder, complaining about having to clean the garage out.

"Garage?" Inu Yasha asked.

"We need to get out of here. He'll find us!"

"You got it." Inu Yasha scooped Kagome up and bolted out the door. He jumped onto the roof of the 'garage' and into a tree. The man's shouts followed them.

Inu Yasha jumped from a couple trees, occasionally leaping onto the ground when he couldn't make it to the next. Kagome realized they were in the large park, and that the man was probably the landlord. Finally, he stopped and set Kagome down.

"Inu Yasha, don't you ever carry me like that again!" Kagome shouted.

Shippou was clinging to her sleeves with a death grip. He wasn't used to going that fast, and didn't like it.

"Why not?" the demon wondered aloud.

"Because it's embarrassing!"

"Who's there to be embarrassed for?"

"Just don't do it again."

"Fine." Inu Yasha shut up after that, and sat on the ground. Kagome leaned against a tree, looking at the city. Her arms were folded across her chest.

She risked a glance at the dog demon, and laughed. The way he was sitting was really like a dog.

"What are you laughing at?" Inu Yasha snapped.

"Nothing. Look, we're probably going to be tracked. It might be a good idea if we got new clothes. So, Inu Yasha, Shippou, we're going shopping!" Kagome exclaimed brightly, turning to her demons.

Shippou cheered while Inu Yasha gave her another blank stare. "Shopping?"

"Shopping."

"What's shopping?"

"You'll see dog boy, you'll see."

……………

Kagome had to figure out a way to hide Inu Yasha's ears before they could leave. It would stir too much attention, making it easier for Youkaibo to find them. Kagome had nothing else, so she had to tease Inu Yasha's hair, but she only did it enough so that his ears didn't show.

They had to wrap Shippou up in a blanket to hide his tail. Kagome told him that he had to stop squirming so much, so his hair would hide his pointed ears.

Then, they walked through the city. After making a quick stop at the bank, they hit up the mall. Kagome saw that Inu Yasha's ears were pressed against his head and laughed. He snapped at her before complaining about the loud sounds.

At the first store, they bought everything. Inu Yasha found a pair of loose cargos and a plain white t-shirt. Kagome found a hat that was red and gold with "49ers" printed on it. All three of them were clueless as to what the 49ers were, but the hat matched Inu Yasha perfectly, as Kagome said. She couldn't get him to wear shoes.

Kagome picked out a knee-length pleated green skirt and a nice white blouse. She also got a pair of 'normal' shoes. Couldn't go around wearing high heels, could you. She laughed, saying she felt like a school girl.

Shippou was too distracted to pay attention to what they were doing, so Kagome got him a shirt with an airplane on it. Inu Yasha had almost asked what an air plane was, but Kagome had shushed him before he could attract any attention. To go with the shirt was a simple pair of elastic waisted jeans without pockets.

Kagome decided it was a good idea to save whatever money she had, so she charged the apparel.

Over the course of their shopping trip, there were people always talking about how cute of a couple Inu Yasha and Kagome made. She was a little young to have children, but their son was adorable!

Kagome denied it immediately. Blushing, she explained that her cousins were visiting and she wanted to show them around the mall. Most people apologized quickly and were off. After hearing they were cousins, one guy had tried to hit on her, but Inu Yasha growled and scared him off. (Hojo!)

After the mall, Kagome decided she was hungry. As a treat, she led Inu Yasha and Shippou to Mc Donald's. (A/N: Which I don't own...) For once, Inu Yasha didn't ask questions when he got his cheeseburger, and ate it rather fast. Onlookers stared and said she needed to feed him better. Kagome laughed. In the context, she found the meaning to be a little deeper. She should feed her dog better.

Once food was done, Kagome used some of her money to take a sub way to the edge of town. After that, they were on their own, beginning their journey away form Youkaibo.

……………

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	3. Demons in the Rain

A Single Strand

Chapter 3

Demons in the Rain

It had started raining. The clouds had snuck up on them, and now, it was raining. With no desire to stay out in the drastic change in weather, they had to stop under a tree to wait it out.

Kagome shivered slightly. Obviously, she hadn't expected the flash flood of the rain, as she had dressed for summer.

Inu Yasha noticed and sat behind her. Instinctively, he pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. "You're cold, Kagome?"

Kagome blushed. This was the first time she had ever been really close to a guy, but it felt really good. "Thanks. But what about you? You're only dressed a little warmer than me."

"Demons don't get cold."

Kagome smiled and snuggled closer to Inu Yasha. She felt so warm and happy. "Do they get warm?"

Inu Yasha was silent a moment, thinking. "Yes," he answered because he felt the warmth right then.

Unfortunately, their happiness was short lived.

"So, you're the hanyou, Inu Yasha. Pathetic," a woman walked into the clearing. Her short black hair was kept out of her face by a red hair band. She wore a short v-cut top that was slightly revealing and short shorts.

Kagome looked from Inu Yasha to the demon. "Hanyou?" she asked.

Inu Yasha stood and glared angrily at the female with golden eyes taking on a hue more like amber.

"Oh, you didn't know? I figured you would, since you were the one to wake only half a demon. But..." she trailed off momentarily. "I'll kill you any way. I'm supposed to, you know."

The demon held out a hand and something string like shot out at Kagome. Inu Yasha lunged, knocking the startled girl out of the way. The strands cut into the flesh of the hanyou's upper arm. Inu Yasha's eyes widened with pain and he started growling as he turned to face the demon before charging.

"Angry now, are we? That wont work," the female demon mocked.

She sent more strands at the hanyou, who promptly dropped to a crouch while still running forward. The demon kept sending more strands at Inu Yasha and he kept dodging them.

Once he got close enough, his claws racked across the female's front. A second slash followed before the demon collapsed to the ground in a dead bloody heap.

The rain started mixing with the blood, diluting it to a slight blackish-pink before it seemed to disappear.

Inu Yasha stood behind the mass, the rain forming miniscule rivers down his downcast face. Blood dripped from his claws, mixing with the water.

"Inu Yasha?" Kagome asked tentatively. Shippou was hiding behind her back as she approached the hanyou.

"Kagome, I'm sorry," Inu Yasha whispered without looking up.

"Why?"

"I...I killed her. I can tell you don't want things to die. You don't want things to hurt. That's why we're here."

"Inu Yasha." The force she used startled him into looking up at her. "You are right. But she tried to kill us first. She was trying to get us back in a cage. Don't worry about killing. Now, come here. You're bleeding."

Inu Yasha looked down at his arm. "You're right."

……………

"Naraku-sama," the demon walked into the room without knocking. Her out rage at what had happened made her forget her manners.

"It didn't work, did it Kagura?" Naraku asked, chuckling slightly.

"Yura failed. The hanyou acted as if he's had years of training here. In the war zone practically."

"Kagura, what did you expect? Judging by the way his other half turned out, what more could he be capable of?"

"Naraku-sama?" Kagura asked. She was slightly confused at Naraku's reaction.

"There will be several ways to corner this dog. Send more demons if you want. We have plenty to loose."

"Yes, Naraku-sama. Should I try to see if his other half will go?"

"We have plenty to loose. I do not care which ones you use."

"Yes, Naraku-sama." Bowing, Kagura left the room.

……………

Inu Yasha stood strait up, ears perking up as well. "Kagome, I feel something. It calls me. It feels like a heart beat."

"What is it?" Kagome asked. She had finally finished calming both charges down and bandaging the hanyou's wound.

"I don't know. But…it calls me."

"Let's go check it out. It's not like we have anything else to do."

Kagome wanted to know what it was. Since the rain had stopped, they could go check it out.

"Hop on," Inu Yasha gestured to his back. Just like a trained puppy, he knew what set of his master, and wanted to do his best to please her. Seeing as Kagome had already decided she didn't want him to carry her in his arms, but they moved to slow walking, and he needed to carry her so they went faster.

Blushing slightly, Kagome hung on to the hanyou's neck. Inu Yasha supported her so she wouldn't fall. Shippou had barely enough time to snuggle in between the two before they were moving.

The feeling led Inu Yasha to a different town's miniscule park. It was lush with plants that were soaking up the rainwater.

An old man was lying facedown in the short trimmed grass. Inu Yasha landed away from him and let Kagome down. Kagome gasped. The hanyou then walked over and knelt by the man.

"Hey, you gonna be alright?"

"You heard the call?" the old man asked faintly.

"Call? Yes, I heard it. I felt it. What is it? Did you send it out?"

"You're the hanyou, aren't you? Yes. I see. It makes sense. Here, take this. It's originally intended for you, I believe." The man pushed a long wrapped parcel into Inu Yasha's hand. "The katana Tetsusaiga, forged by myself, Totosai, belongs to you now young man."

With that, the man calling himself Totosai died.

Kagome walked to Inu Yasha's side, Shippou on her shoulders. "What was that all about?" she asked. The man had been talking in a tone that only Inu Yasha could hear.

"He gave me this," he showed the parcel to her, "and died."

"If he's dead, then we have to go. The police might come and think we killed him. Then, they'll turn us in to Youkaibo."

Inu Yasha didn't know what a 'police' was, but he didn't want to go to the laboratory. He settled the man to rest peacefully. Kagome stepped forward and latched on like she had been before and Inu Yasha started running again.

……………

"Sesshomaru-kun," a young woman exclaimed. "It's so wonderful to be out isn't it?" The girl speaking was small and childlike in both attitude and appearance. She was wearing a casual, cotton kimono with a golden koi embroidered on the back. In reality, she was actually twenty.

"Yes, Rin-dono," the man on her left replied. His face remained ever passive in a cold way, softened only by his mistress. Sesshomaru wore a long sleeved silver shirt and matching jeans that were extremely baggy and held up by a contrasting black belt with a glimmering silver crescent moon buckle.

But it wasn't his passive, threatening look that made him unique. He had pointed ears -as most demons do- and odd magenta markings on his cheeks. A marking similar to his belt buckle was engraved on his forehead, visible between bangs of silver.

People were giving the pair a strange look, but they couldn't do anything about it. They were afraid once they caught sight of the katana hanging at the demon's side. Katana were never seen on the streets, let alone demons.

"Aw, Sesshomaru-kun, why is everyone leaving us?" Rin asked.

"They are unsure how to act around the unknown. So, they shrink back."

"I don't look scary."

Sesshomaru had to hold back a sigh. She was so naive. "No, but I am to them. Because my kind are not seen around like this, they stay away." His voice became heated with a tinge of anger. "And we have Naraku to thank for that."

"Aw, he's not so bad. He let's us stay and now we're looking for you're brother."

"That hanyou is _not _my brother. We mealy share a half of a strand of DNA."

"So, how does that work again?"

"Our DNA was split and forced apart while beginning to replicate. His half was forced to pair with human DNA bases, while mine paired with demon. It's quite difficult to explain." In truth, he didn't even know the full jist of it.

Suddenly, Sesshomaru stopped. Rin realized when she was a couple steps ahead and walked back to stand next to her demon.

"What's wrong Sesshomaru-kun?" she asked.

"He's near by." Without explaining further, Sesshomaru picked Rin up and, if the human by-standers were to be asked, he disappeared.

……………

……………

Okay, now, on to the little Author Notes:

1: Katana is Japanese for Sword. That was an "incase you couldn't tell" little thing.

2: Wow. I added Totosai in here! But he died really quickly. Why? I don't know. I just needed Inu to get the Tetsusaiga. Ok, I have a reason, but they wont know it. He was an important asset to Youkaibo, so if he leaves the place, there's like a tracker that kills them after a while...so, there we go. Totosai's death.

3. The Engraving comment. Youkaibo sucks. Sometimes demons are supposed to have markings, but they don't show up until later, so the scientists cut it out so it's more of a scar than a marking. Bastards, huh?

4. If you read it before, you'll realize the chapter cutting is a little bit different. I decided to loop likes with likes as much as possible. It makes more sense to me after I did my other fic, so…that's the reason for it. Hope you like it better!


	4. The Other Half

A Single Strand

Chapter 4

The other half

Inu Yasha ran. He ended up somewhere in the middle of a forest, and he still ran. He wanted to escape the feeling he was associating with death, and physical exhaustion was the only way his instincts would allow.

From out of the blue, something rammed into Inu Yasha's side. Kagome fell off with a slight yelp and Shippou went with her. Both of them ended up by a tree, stopping before hitting it. The hanyou rebounded off of a different tree and landed in a crouched position in front of his mistress.

"What the hell do you want?" he growled.

"I want you off the face of this Earth. You are an insult to demons. Unfortunately, Naraku wants you alive and in one piece," the cold voice replied from beside the hanyou.

Inu Yasha grabbed the hilt of the katana, despite it being wrapped in a piece of cloth. He drew it and slashed out at the offending demon. For an instant, Tetsusaiga looked like an old, rusty blade before it was shrouded in light and it transformed into a gigantic fang.

There was a flash of silver where the demon had been, and then a hollow thunk as the katana was lodged into the tree. The sliver blur landed several feet away, next to a dark haired girl.

Inu Yasha attempted to free Tetsuaiga from the tree, but failed. As soon as he let go to drop back into the defensive crouch, the blade transformed back into the harmless looking version.

"Interesting," the silver haired intruder muttered. "Do you know who I am?"

"Yes," Inu Yasha replied confidently. "You're my other half."

The demon Sesshomaru smirked slightly, an eerie prophecy. "Very good." In one fluid motion, the full blood had Inu Yasha pinned to a tree by his throat. At first, Inu Yasha struggled, and then instincts took control. The hanyou's claws sunk into Sesshomaru's arm. The demon jumped back.

As soon as Inu Yasha landed, he reached for Tetsuaiga. The severity of the situation allowed the hanyou to free the blade instantly. Tetsuaiga transformed into the fang.

"You aren't used to the katana. It won't do you much good," Sesshomaru commented. In a flash, he was next to Inu Yasha again. The hanyou's instincts told him where the full-blooded demon was and Inu Yasha slashed at where he was. Sesshomaru ducked and easily broke through the hanyou's guard. He slashed at Inu Yasha's eyes. The hanyou stepped back, holding Tetsuaiga one-handed as he rubbed at his eyes. He couldn't see anything.

_But, you can smell..._ something told him. He sniffed and discovered it was true. He could smell something unusual, an image of youki formed in his mind. (Youki - demonic energy...). The two energies clashed. The center sparked.

_There's a fissure, _he realized. _Where the youki collide, there's a fissure! _

_Cut trough it. It's the Kaze no Kizu, _the voice demanded.

_Kaze no Kizu? _Inu Yasha wondered. He snapped back to reality just in time to sense Sesshomaru attack again. He swung the blade through the space between the youki and light spread out from Tetsuaiga. The light slammed into the full blood.

Inu Yasha didn't want to know the out come of the attack. Kagome called out to him and he followed her voice. She leapt onto his back and Inu Yasha took off running into the woods. He sniffed his way to a stream and stopped there, purging his eyes from his other half's poison.

After he was able to see clearly again, he lay on his back, starring at the sky. For some reason, the attack seemed to hurt him as well, but more emotionally. He didn't want to kill either. The fact that it was his other half just made it seem so much weirder.

"Damn my other half," the hanyou said as he threw his arm over his eyes. Kagome knelt beside him, and without saying anything, began stroking his ears. That softened Inu Yasha, and he purred like a cat.

……………

Sesshomaru knelt in the forest. Behind him, most of the trees were now laying on the ground. The Kaze no Kizu had disconnected his left arm. Now, blood flowed steadily down his side. Other than that, he had claw marks on his right arm, but that was it. His katana had glowed and created something of a barrier to protect him from the bulk of the energy attack.

"Sesshomaru-kun? Are you ok?" Rin asked walking up behind the demon.

"I will be." The silver haired demon stood and began walking in the direction his other half had gone.

"No, Sesshomaru! Stop it! Don't go after him, right now. You're hurt!" Rin latched on to his right arm and refused to let go, starting to sob.

Sesshomaru stopped. "Rin-dono. We should go after him now. Our orders..."

"Leave them. You can't do anything right now."

"Rin-dono…" Sesshomaru was going to protest. He was perfectly fine. He was only missing an arm.

"We're going back," Rin demanded.

"As you wish, Rin-dono."

Sesshomaru nodded once and picked Rin up. He flashed away, headed back to the laboratory, a heavy feeling sinking into his heart. Kami knew what Naraku would do knowing he failed.

……………

The wolf demon lay curled in the middle of the darkened room on the cold concrete. His liquid blue eyes were shut in a failing attempt to shut out the memories. His whole body was wracked with pain; here and there it would flare again. His heart ached most of all. He knew he should have died a while ago. He almost wished he had.

Kouga opened an eye, as if reassuring himself of the dark. He wasn't sure if a light would have been better. The light would always remind him of the torture he had gone through over the past day and a half, but the darkness reminded him that he had gone through it alone.

_Life sucks,_ he thought.

"Kagome," he whispered. He remembered the scent and it gave him strength. He still didn't move. He already knew that it stirred the pain.

"You want her, don't you?" a voice asked.

Kouga didn't know who was talking to him, if it was even real of not, but didn't care. Talking to a voice that may or may not be there was better than nothing. He answered, "Yes."

The voice came again, this time, noticeably female. "Then take on Inu Yasha. Bring him here and Kagome will follow."

"Sure." It felt easy enough. Go get Inu Yasha, bring him here, Kagome follows, and he gets Kagome. It seemed like it would be easy.

"You'll leave tomorrow?"

It was more of a demand than a question, but he answered any way. "Yes,"

"Good." Kagura smiled evilly from the shadows. Sending the wolf was Naraku's suggestion. She doubted the hanyou could kill Kouga. The wolf's blood hadn't been diluted by a human, so his power was unrestrained. It was a good thing and a bad thing. But, Kouga was going to be more motivated to kill the hanyou than the last failed experiment.

……………

Inu Yasha, Kagome, and Shippou were walking through the forest. Kagome decided they would walk in an attempt to lighten the hanyou's spirits. It had seemed to work some too. The setting sun bathed the setting in an orange-red film.

"How did you know the old man's katana worked like that?" Kagome asked.

Inu Yasha shrugged. "Something told me. I don't know what, but it told me what to do. Maybe instincts…maybe someone else." The hanyou didn't want to tell Kagome that he really thought it could have been his past life self. She might think he was crazy.

"How odd..." Kagome commented thoughtfully. She had a feeling Inu Yasha wasn't telling her something, but didn't want to pester him about it. The truth was, someone was talking to her too, mostly in her dreams. The person kept propelling her towards Inu Yasha. It sounded crazy, but she was ignoring it as best she could.

Kagome yawned. "I'm getting tired," she decided.

Inu Yasha kept walking, apparently ignoring her.

Shippou, who had actually been walking on his own, stopped. "We're stopping _now _Inu Yasha!" the little kit demanded.

"Says you. First off, you can't really fight, especially against me. Second of all, can't you smell it?"

"Smell what?"

"Feel it? Sense it?"

"I don't think so. What?"

"Then you're a worthless demon."

"How dare you!"

"Shippou, it's all right. We should keep going. I think something's watching us, but I'm not sure," Kagome cut into the argument.

"That's exactly it," Inu Yasha approved.

Kagome stumbled. Inu Yasha caught her. "Want a lift?"

"Mmm." Kagome thought for a second. "Yes."

"Hold on, ok? That's all you have to do."

Kagome latched on to Inu Yasha's neck while Shippou jumped onto her shoulder to cling to hers. The hanyou took off running, trying to escape the watchful eyes he couldn't find. After a while, the feeling disappeared, so Inu Yasha stopped. It was at least half an hour after the sun had set, so it was getting dark.

He sat down and held Kagome, protecting her from the cold weather and whatever else might come along during the rest of the night.

……………

……………


	5. A Game of Chase

A Single Strand

Chapter 5

A Game of Chase

The sun rose, barley seen through the heavy mist that wrapped around the forest in the early morning. Inu Yasha hadn't moved since Kagome actually fell asleep (she had had a harder time than she should have) and that was around midnight.

The hanyou sighed. Shippou had tried to nuzzle in between him and Kagome, but Inu Yasha hadn't tried to accommodate. Shippou had ended up with his back pressed against the tree at Inu Yasha's side.

The hanyou's golden eyes flickered open. His ears, previously laying against his head in contentment, shot up abruptly. He had heard something and didn't like the way it felt. "Kagome," he whispered, shaking the girl awake.

Kagome mumbled something incoherent and smacked her lips slightly. She attempted to snuggle closer to Inu Yasha.

"Kagome!" he hissed.

"Huh? Wha? It's too early for work. Five more minutes."

The hanyou rolled his eyes. "We have a visitor."

"A wah?" Shippou asked, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

Inu Yasha slipped out from behind Kagome and let her lean against the tree. If Kagome didn't want to get up, he wouldn't make her. So, he stood guard, waiting.

A figure materialized from the fog. He had pointed ears and as he approached, the demon brushed his damp dark hair away from crystalline eyes. "I've come for Kagome," the new comer stated.

During the time Inu Yasha had been waiting, Kagome had woken up a little. She saw the demon appear and took in the sight.

"Kouga?" Kagome asked. _Oh, crap! I know his name. Which means I probably woke him up too. When?_

"Kagome!" Kouga stepped towards her, smiling until Inu Yasha growled. He bowed his head for a moment, looking towards Kagome like an abused animal. "Why did you leave me? You know the pains that we go through during that...that hell, but still you left me. And you left me to go through it alone."

"I...I'm sorry. I didn't know I woke up another one. Kouga, I'm sorry."

"Then come back with me! Help me now. They call me freak. Defiled because I don't have a human's blood to control mine!"

"I can't go back with you Kouga. I've promised my self I wont. I can't condemn Inu Yasha." _I can't condemn myself. God, I am selfish._

"But you can damn me?" The wolf demon was shaking with rage.

"I told you, I didn't know!"

"Watch it dog. If Kagome cries, I'll kill you," Inu Yasha growled.

"All right then. I'll kill the hanyou. Then, Kagome will come back with me. You'll be safer with me, Kagome. I can protect you better than that mutt."

"No, I won't allow you to take her." Inu Yasha's look took on the same cold attitude his other half had, except a smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. The hanyou started pacing around the wolf demon, looking him up and down. Kouga stood still, accepting the scrutiny. It was what a wolf would do. Alfa's didn't back down from anything, especially something lower than they were.

"Nope. I don't think so," Inu Yasha commented again. Kouga opened his mouth to say something, but the hanyou cut him off before he started. "Let's be civilized about this. I'm pretty sure you can't beat me, and you're sure you can. In human terms, we could have a wager. If I win, then you never show yourself in front of me again."

"And if I win?"

"All three of us go back to Youkaibo."

"Inu Yasha!" Kagome scolded, standing quickly.

"Trust me, Kagome."

Kouga smirked. "So how are we going to settle this in a civilized fashion?"

"You're thinking right, wolf. You think you can protect Kagome, so...Prove it. Kagome run. We'll give you a head start."

"What are you...?" she asked as she stood up.

"You'll know. Just run," Inu Yasha said slyly.

Kagome obeyed. She took off through the forest, Shippou in hand.

"So, now we fight?" Kouga asked.

"Patience, wolf. As she runs, both of us will follow. You will protect her, and I'll try to attack her. It ends when I can't attack any more."

"But, you can't hurt her!"

"Now, that's not the right thinking. I don't know what you do, but I can do whatever I want if I catch her. She should be a good ways off now. Let's go." Inu Yasha turned quickly and jumped into a tree.

Kouga ran after Kagome in an extremely fast pace. Both used their noses to follow the girl's scent.

Kouga was the first to get to Kagome. She had fallen in the center of a clearing and hadn't move much. She was barely sitting, braced up by her arm. Shippou was nowhere to be seen.

Kouga spun to stand in front of her just as Inu Yasha barreled into the clearing from a tree. In an instant, Inu Yasha was after Kagome.

Startled, Kagome shouted, "What the hell are you doing Inu Yasha?"

Kouga tackled Inu Yasha, and the hanyou retreated to the fringe. A few minutes passed before Inu Yasha attacked again form the right. Kouga had sensed he'd come from that direction and placed a well-aimed kick at Inu Yasha. The hanyou was forced to the side, rolled, and then took off into the forest again.

"Nice kick. Disable me if you want to take Kagome." From the sound of his voice, Kouga noted he was stalking off to the right again. Inu Yasha switched instantly and bolted around the fringe to the left after he stopped talking. He jumped out. Again Kouga deflected his attempts to get to Kagome. The two conflicting demons kept it up for a while. Kagome watched, confused. She gave up on trying to get them to stop after the first few times failed.

Finally, Inu Yasha went straight at Kouga. At first, the wolf was startled, but he recovered quickly and tried to kick the hanyou. This time, Inu Yasha ducked under the kick and turned. He slipped Kouga's other leg out from under him. The wolf fell and Inu Yasha was onto Kagome in a second, teeth bared.

Kouga stood up, wincing slightly. "Get the hell off of her!" He could smell Kagome's fear and didn't want her getting hurt because he had failed.

Inu Yasha turned towards the wolf momentarily. He looked more demonic. His eyes were glimmering towards an emerald on red, and faint demon markings appeared on his cheeks. He smirked slightly, amused perhaps, before turning back to Kagome. The hanyou licked at Kagome's neck and went up to her cheek. To emphasize his point, he kissed her too.

Then, he turned and sat down next to Kagome. "Looks like I win."

"You attacked me!"

"You were telling me I couldn't have what I want. So, I get rid of the thing saying no, and I can have it. Besides, I never said _I_ couldn't attack _you_." Inu Yasha shook his head and the demonic look went away. "Well, seeing as how you lost, you need to hold up your end of the bargin. Now, get lost. I don't want to have to kill you in front of Kagome."

"You had better protect Kagome, or I'll kill you," Kouga threatened. He turned and realized he had hurt his leg a little more than he had expected. With no where to go but back to Youkaibo, Kouga started limping off.

"That was pretty good, neh?" Smiling, Inu Yasha turned to Kagome. Her eyes were closed.

"Kagome?" Inu Yasha asked cautiously. He shook her shoulder and drew back. The girl was burning up. Inu Yasha picked Kagome up (the way she had yelled at him for doing before) just as Shippou came running up.

"Inu Yasha, what's the matter? What'd you do to Kagome?" the kit shouted.

"Calm down. She feels really warm right now. I think she worked to hard to keep up. I think I smell a place that we could stay." Inu Yasha took off after the smell, hoping no one caught them at a time he felt they were vulnerable. With Kagome out like she was, Inu Yasha knew he'd be too distracted to fend anything off.

……………

……………


	6. Meetings and Plans

A Single Strand

Chapter 6

Meetings and Plans

Kagome woke up, wondering what had happened. Then, her memories flooded back with certain clarity. "Inu Yasha!" she shouted.

The hanyou stepped into view as she sat up. Her head spun slightly, almost making it seem like there were several Inu Yasha-s. She liked that idea, but knew that thought would be more appealing later. Right now she had a bone to pick with him.

"What is it, dearest?" he asked sweetly.

"Don't start that! How dare you pull that shit with me! If it went any further, you could have raped me!"

"What's rape?" Inu Yasha asked innocently.

Kagome rolled her eyes. "You know...Having sex involuntarily."

"What's sex?"

"You don't know? Oh, god, I can't explain it right now! I feel sick, go away."

"Sick isn't a good thing, is it?"

"Oh, I don't know," Kagome said, sarcasm dripping in her voice. She slipped her shoe off and threw it at the silver haired hanyou. "Get."

Inu Yasha disappeared around a screen, only to find Shippou laughing at him. "What's so funny, kit?"

"You asked _the _question."

"Yeah, so?"

"You got the same answer I did."

------------------

"Where are they?" Kagura shouted.

"I said I couldn't find them," the wolf demon replied. He apparently found the darkness in the corner of the room very intriguing, as he kept his sight focused there. Kouga didn't know why, but he didn't want to rat Kagome's location out. He wanted her with him on her own free will, instead of being forced to by the damned company.

"You know where they are! Tell me!"

"Damn you!"

The sorceress pulled her hand back, about to strike. A cold voice cut into the air, stopping her.

"Enough!" Naraku walked into the room. Kagura's hand snapped to her side and she bowed, backing up slightly as Naraku strode farther into the room. The evil man hooked a finger under the wolf demon's chin forcing their eyes to connect. "I think you know where they are, wolf. Tell me now," Naraku ordered calmly.

"I don't know," the wolf demon replied casually this time. Kouga looked away as best he could. He knew he'd start shouting again if he made eye contact.

"You know it would be easier if you told me. We have...ways of making you talk."

Kouga smiled slightly. "Maybe I do know. Perhaps I did come across Inu Yasha and their merry little band. I don't remember things too well."

"We certainly can help you with that."

"I'll tell you then, I do know. They're probably long gone, but I still wont tell you where I saw them. This whole company can go to hell!" Kouga snapped. The ideas echoed throughout the room.

Kouga had dug his hole deep enough to get Naraku personally involved. What difference would a couple more feet make?

"Very well. Kagura, lead this rebellious demon to the room."

"The room?" Kagura asked.

"Yes, the experiment lab. We will test how long the wolf demon's will can hold out," chuckling, Naraku turned to leave the room.

"Yes, Naraku-sama," Kagura bowed her master out of the room. She could feel Kouga glaring at her once again. "Don't look at me like you've been thrown to the wolves. You could have spared your own life by telling us what we wanted to know. "

Little did either of the demons know, Naraku had stopped just outside the door. "Don't worry, Kagura. There are more pressing matters that you need to focus on. You will be next to fight Inu Yasha once we discover his hiding place." That was the last comment he had, so Naraku finally left.

Kouga had walked up behind Kagura, but that didn't phase the wind sorceress one bit. She smacked the wolf demon in the chest with her fan. "Come on wolf."

As he followed Kagura, Kouga thought, _I won't tell them anything. I may not be able to protect Kagome during a fight, but if I can save her through my suffering, so be it. _

And he was true to his words. The whole of his night was spent pinned to a table in the experiment lab, his screams filling the air.

……………

Kagome awoke to hear Inu Yasha yelling. She had slept the whole day. Her fever was gone, so she felt better. But at the rate things were going, she thought she'd get a migraine by the end of an hour.

Kagome walked around the screen that had apparently been erected when they had gotten there, yawning as she stretched an arm above her head.

"Mornin' Sunshine!" Inu Yasha called cheerfully as Kagome walked into the room.

"What's with you?" she asked. He'd never acted like that. It was too cheerful, almost like he had been taking lessons from Shippou.

"I was just telling these two people about how our...our car ran out of oil..."

"Gas," Kagome cut in automatically.

"Right, gas...And my wife, that's you, got sick…so we went to the closest shelter we could find, which is here."

Kagome examined the other two closely. The woman wore a pink blouse over a green skirt. Her hair was a really dark color, and her eyes seemed alert. She was holding hands with the man beside her, who wore the garbs of a priest. He also had dark hair. His puppy brown eyes looked at Kagome and Inu Yasha curiously, but respectfully.

The woman smiled. "What makes your story so farfetched is that you came over ten miles from anything even remotely called a road, your so-called wife only looks sixteen, and she's traveling with a half demon who isn't marked by Youkaibo, and a little full blooded kitsune who is," she pointed out.

"Inu Yasha!" Kagome hissed.

"What?"

"If they practically know... Wait, how long have they been here?"

"They found out we were here yesterday afternoon. You can thank Shippou for that."

"All right then, before I say anything else, what do you two think of Youkaibo?"

"Hate it!" both of their hosts said at once, not at all phased by the strangeness of the question.

"Ok, well, the truth is, they're both my experiments. Shippou was my first and I woke Inu Yasha just a week ago. I didn't want to go through the hell again, especially since Inu Yasha is half-and-half, which I can still barely believe and can't comprehend, so we ran away. We got attacked a couple times, but we handled it. Now, we're here," Kagome summed up quickly.

"Inu Yasha, Shippou, and...?" the elder woman trailed off, hinting that she didn't know the name of the younger girl.

"Oh, Kagome."

"Kagome. Well, I'm Sango and this is my husband, Miroku. We know what Youkaibo does. We don't like it, so we are trying to stop it."

Kagome smiled. "Let's take it down then. The whole company. The whole building. Brick by brick if we have to."

"Not so fast, Kagome. You were sick yesterday. I don't think you should try to take down a building," Inu Yasha cut into the plans. He sounded every part of a concerned boy friend.

"I'm all better now, Inu-chan. But, I'd like to stay here if it's all right with you two."

"Youkaibo climbing at our door steps. I love it," Miroku stated.

……………

Sesshomaru sat in the center of the darkened room. His wound had been taken care of, and he was now condemned to rest. He had become restless because of that, so he tried distracting himself by thinking of the past. Sesshomaru didn't know exactly how he knew, but the youkai understood his mistress' past better than she did.

Rin had been born into poor family, but they had gotten by. There was a problem: the girl's mental and physical growth was stunted by a strange disease. Not knowing what else they could do, her parents waited for three years. Youkaibo came out into the open at that time, with researchers in DNA and the like. Rin's parents made a deal with the company, making Rin a guinea pig for her disease. After a year, Youkaibo succeeded.

Rin had been forced to stay at the lab after the experiment was complete. She hadn't been told, but her parents had died in a house fire. So, she had grown up a hindrance to the Youkaibo employees.

At the age of nineteen, Sesshomaru entered the picture. After so long in the darkness, Rin had become a beam of light to the demon. As soon as he had awakened, Rin had known. She had sat under the glass confines until a scientist noticed. Then, their life became hell.

The 'tradition' of sharing of blood, the brands, the experiments... Sesshomaru shivered at the thought.

The lock clicked from behind him and the door opened. Foot steps where heard before the door was shut.

The demon knew without looking that the still child like girl was behind him.

"Sesshomaru-kun?" Rin asked. She took a couple of steps into the room.

"Mistress," Sesshomaru replied.

"Your heart cries. The tears don't reach your eyes, but your heart cries. It called to me." She had walked so she stood at his back.

"I don't cry, Mistress."

Two droplets of water splashed onto the concrete, audible only to the ears of the demon. Rin wrapped her arms around Sesshomaru's neck, burying her face in his silver hair. "Let's drop the formalities. Please?"

"As you wish." He reached his right arm across his chest, resting it on the girl's arm. So cute, the naïve little human girl.

"It's been about a year," Rin whispered.

"Yes," Sesshomaru whispered back. A couple tears trailed down his stripped cheeks. She was his only weakness. Only in front of her would he drop all sense of pride, and cry, if only just a little.

"I don't like it, Sesshomaru. I don't like the killing, the pain. I don't like what they do here. It ruined my past."

The demon seemed to snuggle deeper into the embrace. "Are you saying that you regret awakening me?"

"I don't like what they did to us, but I will never regret meeting you. They ruined my past, not my future."

"I don't like what they did, either. But...I do like this. How we are this very moment."

They stayed close together for several minutes until the lights turned on. Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed, adjusting to the light, as he pulled away. The demon whipped at his face as he stood.

The door opened, allowing Naraku's pet, the wind sorceress Kagura into the room. With her, she brought a long parcel.

"What do you want?" Sesshomaru asked, easily slipping back into the cold demeanor the rest of the world saw.

"Personally, I want out. But Naraku-sama won't have that, nor will he know until it's too late. But that's not why I'm here. Naraku-sama barely tolerated your failure the last time. This," she tossed the parcel to the other demon, who caught it, "will prevent another, so he says. He also said 'master it during the next few days, then, you will face off against Inu Yasha again.' And that is all. Take care, Lord Sesshomaru."

With that, the female left. The lights flicked off as the door shut.

Something snapped and metal clattered to the floor. "Worthless blade, that Tokojin. They found a worthless apprentice to Totosai."

Rin ignored the comment. She tugged on her demon's sleeve "Sesshomaru, she called you Lord. Why?"

Sesshomaru knelt as his mistress had silently ordered. "It may have something to do with my rank in my previous life. Some of us still believe in that."

"He wants you to fight again. Already. I don't like it."

Sesshomaru was silent for a minute. "I'm somewhat jealous. My other half, Inu Yasha, is free. His mistress didn't let him go through the pain, and even now tries to shield him from it. I envy him for that."

"Sesshomaru," Rin choked out, unable to go any further.

"No, I still don't regret having you as my mistress. You still try to shield me, but when we are here, it's impossible. We are attacked from all angles."

"No more, Sesshomaru. We wont take it any more. We will leave. You and I, we'll leave."

"Yes, Mistress." Sesshomaru smiled slightly. He could feel his mistress' slight glare at the title. He corrected, "Yes Rin. But we should wait. The proper time shall come soon. There is another connected to Kagome, and I think he might help. He's not ready yet."

The winds of change were blowing. Sesshomaru felt them, and was silently preparing for a fight to keep them going.

……………

……………


	7. Winds of Fate

A Single Strand

Chapter 7

Winds of Fate

A strong wind rattled the windows of the house. Inu Yasha growled, not liking what he sensed.

"What is it, Inu Yasha?" Sango asked. She had been walking up stairs and had run into Inu Yasha.

"Demon," he stated in a monotone. It should have been obvious, seeing as Youkaibo was on their tails.

"Miroku!" Sango shouted up to the room the two shared. "Wake up!" Sango turned to the hanyou and asked politely, "Inu Yasha, could you get Kagome for me? We'll be waiting downstairs."

"Yes, ma'am."

Sango was the voice of reason for the more strategic fighting. Inu Yasha had learned to respect her quickly in the two weeks that had passed.

Miroku was seen pulling a shirt over his head as he passed. Inu Yasha thought it was a wonder he didn't fall. Inu Yasha went to get Kagome, but he still heard the smooch the married couple gave each other. He rolled his eyes at the thought. As he got to the room, he saw Kagome hopping madly on one foot while she tried to en-sock the other.

Kagome also caught sight of Inu Yasha, and she paused in her arduous task to ask, "What is it today?"

"Wind demon, I think," Inu Yasha replied.

"That would explain it. Ah," Kagome gasped as she toppled over. Inu Yasha caught her, saving her from the rug burn that would have most likely ensured. For a few seconds, all Kagome could do was stare into the hanyou's golden orbs, fully entranced.

"Uh, Kagome, the demon," Inu Yasha prompted, swallowing.

"Oh, right. Thanks for catching me."

"That's what I'm here for. Come on, let's go see."

Inu Yasha led the way down the stairs to the bottom floor. Sango and Miroku weren't there, so they headed out the front door and found the pair outside. Miroku was sitting on the porch steps, watching carefully. Sango was standing watch in the lawn, supporting a large boomerang.

The wind demon was leaning against a tree, a small fan waving casually in front of her mouth. She appeared very bored. Red eyes stared from behind the fan, and the crinkled as she caught sight of Inu Yasha and Kagome.

She stepped forward as the two came out of the house. "I am the Wind Sorceress Kagura. Naraku has sent me to fetch you two. A fight would be meaningless and best off avoided for you. Will you come quietly, or are you willing to risk your new companions' lives?"

Inu Yasha immediately switched to fight mode. He crouched slightly, putting a hand on his katana. "What the hell are you talking about? You can't possibly think we'd hand ourselves over just like that. Not after what we've been through. Offering that, you're either weak or dumb."

Kagura's fan snapped shut. She smirked. "I didn't expect you to take the offer. I was told to bring you alive. It just makes my job difficult."

"Since you already know the answer, why don't you come over here so I can kick your ass?"

"So vulgar. I don't know why Naraku makes such a big deal about you." Kagura snapped her fan open and waved it in Inu Yasha's direction.

Inu Yasha felt the attack and snatched Kagome before jumping into the air. Miroku jumped away. The wind hit Sango and Miroku's house, tearing it to pieces.

Sango shouted at Kagura, upset at having her house attacked, but the exact words couldn't be heard over the falling rubble.

Inu Yasha landed next to Miroku, setting Kagome down. "Take care of her," he ordered.

Another wind attack was sent in their direction, but Inu Yasha drew the Tetsusaiga and deflected it. He jumped away from his companions. Once he landed, he invoked the Kaze no Kizu.

Kagura was able to deflect most of the attack, but some of it still hit her. A dust cloud arose from the force. A large feather rose in the air, supporting the wind demon.

"Hey! Get back here! I'm not through with you!" Inu Yasha shouted, running to stand under the feather.

"I'm done for now," Kagura snapped back before disappearing in the wind.

"Coward wench!"

"Inu Yasha!" Kagome scolded.

Inu Yasha turned and trotted over to Kagome, smiling. He looked like a proud puppy that had just done a good deed. "What?"

"Watch how you talk about women."

"Fine, fine."

"Well, you guys are staying now," Sango decided.

"Why? I thought you were fine with us staying."

"I was. But now you have to help us rebuild our house. You break it, you fix it."

Inu Yasha shrank away from Sango's rage.

"Uh, Sango dear," Miroku ventured.

"What?" Sango turned to Miroku, who threw his hands up in the "I surrender" gesture.

"Shouldn't we find out how much we need to fix first?"

For some odd reason, this seemed to calm her down. "You're right. Let's see what we can salvage."

……………

"You failed, Kagura," Naraku left no room for debate. Still, the Wind Sorceress was willing to try.

"I couldn't find them," Kagura replied. She turned and started walking down the hall.

Naraku slammed her into the wall and held her up by her throat. "You found them. You fought them. Are you trying to be like that damned wolf? I would advise against that. Are you going to tell me?"

"Yes. I'll tell you."

Naraku let go. Kagura slid to sitting position on the floor, gasping for breath.

"Now, tell me Kagura. Where are they?"

Kagura stood. "They joined up with a couple that are against us. Apparently, they were taken in. Sango and Miroku. Sango used to work for us, exterminating demons that went rouge. Miroku is the son of a man we put a curse on. I can find the house again."

"Good. Very good. We can kill two birds with one stone this way."

"Yes, Naraku-sama," Kagura agreed quietly.

"I want you to plot that place on the map. We will need to make some more arrangements before we attack."

"You mean, we're going to lay siege?"

"Pretty much. We can't risk any more. Now, go."

Kagura nodded. "Yes, Naraku-sama." Kagura bowed before walking down the hall.

……………

Sesshomaru woke from his light sleep. He had heard voices from outside. The demon growled quietly.

The voices grew louder. A loud thud resounded in the room. Sesshomaru recognized the voices of Naraku and Kagura. He couldn't stand either of them. It sounded as if they were arguing. Sesshomaru rolled his eyes.

A pair of retreating footsteps. _Good_. They had either resolved their little argument or decided to take it elsewhere.

It was time to act.

Sesshomaru sent a message across the link he shared with Rin.

In minutes, he heard Rin talking to someone. "Naraku-sama wanted to see us. You'd better hurry. You know how he gets."

The lock to the door clicked. Sesshomaru stood and was by the door before it opened.

"Wait. We'd be told if Naraku-sama wanted to see someone," a second guard realized.

Sesshomaru pulled the door open. In a flash, he and Rin were walking down the hallway. Behind them, the two guards fell to the floor.

They had walked a little ways when Sesshomaru stopped. Rin followed once she realized he had. "What's wrong?"

"I'll be right back," was all the explanation he gave. Sesshomaru opened the door, breaking the lock. He could see something in the center of the room. As his eyes readjusted, he picked out the distinct humanoid form. It looked as if it were wrapped up.

"Wolf, you are connected to Kagome, correct."

"What's it to you? Look, I'm not telling you where she is. How many damn times do I have to tell you?"

"Kagome has unofficially declared war on this company. Or, that's what Naraku believes. I think she might need a little bit of help. The end draws near. You can do what you please." Saying so, Sesshomaru cut the restricting cloth with his claws. Done with his task, he turned silently and walked out of the room.

Kouga waited a moment, working the feeling back into his limbs. Bracing himself against the pain, he stood and limped after the silver haired demon.

……………

The occupants were settled in among the ruins. Kagome, Inu Yasha and Shippou were sitting around a small fire, conversing in quiet tones. Miroku and Sango were still working on picking up random things that were still intact.

"Kagome," Inu Yasha whispered. "I'm curious. How did you get caught up in Youkaibo's business?"

Kagome looked away. She hated her reasons.

"Come on Kagome," the little kit pleaded. "I want to hear this story. Tell it! Please!"

"You won't like me for it."

Inu Yasha decided, "I don't care what happened. I only want to know more about you. That's why I asked."

Kagome was glad that the night hid her blush. "It's not really right to tell you. It happened before you were…born, really."

"Since when did you do everything that was right?" Inu Yasha quipped.

Kagome glared slightly. "Fine, if you want to know, I'll tell you. I read about the fall of the demons in my history class. It was really interesting, so I looked into it more. I found out that all of the demons were killed by humans in a big war a long time ago. Then, Kaede-basan told me about Youkaibo, and how they were bringing demons back to life. Since it fit into what I was interested in, I signed up to help out. I didn't know much, I just worked the library. Then, Shippou came and...I realized how horrible it was. And now…I'm here. That's pretty lame, huh?"

"So they're probably getting all of that DNA from the battle site..." Sango muttered.

The three who started the conversation froze. They hadn't realized that Sango had been listening in.

"Did you know, humans get reincarnated?" Miroku asked, walking up. "Well, most of us do. That's what people during the demons' time believed. I've heard that those in Youkaibo have a natural familiarity with demon kind, so they are employed there in hopes that they will awaken demons. That is what I have heard. Maybe it all has to do with reincarnation. If that's the case, I wonder what Kagome-sama might have been..."

That was best taken as a stupid joke and therefore given little thought.

……………

……………


	8. That Special Feeling

A Single Strand

Chapter 8

That Special Feeling

"Inu Yasha, can't you do anything other that lounge about?" Sango shouted at the hanyou.

A week had passed since the Kagura attack. The first two days afterwards had been spent cleaning the rubble away. Inu Yasha had helped with that, but as soon as the humans had it under control, he had spent the day light hours in the tree he was currently sitting in. The house had been repaired enough so that there was a kitchen, a bathroom, and a second story bedroom. They were still working on getting it all back up.

Sango had gotten fed up with his lack of action.

"I'm not lounging, I'm keeping watch," Inu Yasha replied. He was leaning against the tree trunk on a low branch. One leg was dangling leisurely off the branch, and his arms were folded behind his head. One eye opened lazily to glance at the hostess.

"We don't need a watch! Get down! You eat off of those dishes, the least you could do is clean them."

"Who died and made you queen of the world?"

Sango stood and fumed silently, trying to control her range. The casual comment was taken very seriously.

As well it should have. After the demon attack, Inu Yasha and Shippou had looked to Sango as a leader, and Kagome thought of her as a big sister.

Sango's father and little brother had been killed by Youkaibo. She had even had a little harmless demon as a pet for the longest time. It had been tormented and killed by the company for no real reason. Those events persuaded Sango to turn against it. She had met Miroku in the campaign she had participated in.

Miroku was suffering -though not apparently- from a disease Youkaibo released on his grand father in the early days of its power struggle. Eventually, they had fallen in love and gotten married.

"Inu Yasha!" Kagome's call carried to the ears of the hanyou from the kitchen window. "Come here and help me with the dishes!"

Inu Yasha's face had brightened at the sound of Kagome's voice and he leapt from the tree, calling "In a sec," before barreling to the house.

Sango rolled her eyes, muttering, "Demons." She looked out to the setting sun. A chilling wind scattered her hair. Sango shivered slightly.

An arm wrapped around her shoulders and Sango was pulled into a warm embrace. She looked into Miroku's puppy eyes and he smiled. "It's getting cold. You should be inside," he whispered.

She smiled slightly as well. There was no use thinking of the past. "Right. You too."

They started walking back to the house. Sango sighed in contentment. How often Miroku had done this. It was often romantic until...

Sango smacked him. "Hentai," she hissed. As usual, Miroku's hand had slipped from her shoulders to her waist, then a little farther.

"Ow.. Sango-chan what was that for?" Miroku complained, using her pet name.

"Just because we're married, doesn't mean you can do that when ever you want!"

"Hai, I shall remember that."

Again, Sango sighed, this time with exasperation. He'd remember until his cheek stopped hurting, then he'd be at it again.

……………

The kitchen was warm. Kagome was standing at the sink, her arms elbow deep in foamy bubbles, lecturing her hanyou on manners again.

Inu Yasha was sitting backwards in a chair, watching Kagome's movements like a schoolboy day dreaming. Watching, but not hearing a word.

"And you know, it wouldn't be so bad if you would just help a..." Kagome was cut off in mid-sentence when red clad arms slipped around her shoulders. They pulled her closer. Silver hair blurred vision as Inu Yasha nuzzled her neck.

"Inu Yasha, what are you...?" again she was cut off.

The plate she had been cleaning slipped into the sink with a small splash. Inu Yasha stepped back, his face slowly reddening. Kagome now had two imprints on her neck. Kagome turned to glare, but the hanyou was back in the chair, redder than a tomato, yet otherwise the same as he had been before.

She had known she wanted Inu Yasha to like her, especially after the Kouga incident. Kagome had been drawn to the way Inu Yasha moved, the way he acted... but what was that? Did he really like her too? Well it would make sense, but…

"Kagome?"

The voice jarred her out of her private reveries.

"Yeah? What is it Sango?"

"I can finish the dishes if you'd like to go get some sleep."

"Oh, no that's..."

Sango put a hand on Kagome's arm. The older woman was smiling slyly. "It's getting late. Go on."

"What?"

"You know what I'm thinking. You be nice to Inu-chan tonight."

Finally getting the implications, Kagome flushed furiously. Then, she turned indignantly and started walking out the room. Without stopping she called, "Inu Yasha, come."

Inu Yasha had a highly confused look on as he got up and followed Kagome up the stairs to the bedroom. Sango and Miroku had given it up to them, saying they could sleep on the couch and it wasn't right for guests to do that.

Both of them were in the room when Kagome finally stopped. Inu Yasha sat against the wall. She locked the door before walking over and sitting next to the hanyou.

"Why did you try to bite me?" she asked quietly.

"I'm sorry," Inu Yasha muttered, looking at the ground.

"I'm not asking for an apology, I want to know why."

"I...I wanted you. Right then. That's how demons show they love each other...like marriage." Inu Yasha had had some guy talk with Miroku. The fallen monk had explained the human way to him, as well as some of the demon way. The rest was just instinct.

"Kagome...I want you to be my mate."

"Mate?"

"Yeah...like my 'wife'." Inu Yasha's golden orbs finally sought Kagome's. His eyes had such a desperate look, Kagome was unsure she would be able to resist even if she had wanted to.

Instead, she decided to act as he would normally, giving her answer at the same time. Smiling mischievously, she said, "Bite me."

Inu Yasha tackled her, pinning Kagome to the ground. "Don't mind if I do." He nipped Kagome's neck again.

She made a slight growl and reached up, wrapping her arms around his neck and hanging inches above the ground. "Mate," she whispered. "I like that. You'll be mine now."

"Not quite. You have to bite me now."

"I can't do that."

"Why? You don't want to?"

"No, no. I don't have fangs like you."

"Bite me anyway. Then, we'll make it official."

……………

"Sango, what exactly did you tell them?" Miroku asked. They had been disturbed by a loud thump from the second story.

Sango nuzzled closer to him, giving the monk a small kiss. "I could ask you the same thing."

"Inu Yasha wanted to know what a human would call a mate."

"And you told him? Miroku!" For once, Sango slapped her husband playfully.

"You're so irresistible when you do that."

"Not yet. What did you tell him?"

"Only that when two humans love each other, they want to show it to the world by getting married. Husband and wife, like us." Miroku grabbed Sango's hand and held it up.

"For real?"

"That was it. I swear."

Sango kissed him again. "Good boy."

A gagging sound came from the hall. "Oh, kami, what is it?" Sango asked, standing. She was praying it was just a stray cat with a hairball.

The little kit looked up at her with remorseful green eyes. "That's gross. Kagome locked me out of the room, so I was going to see where else I could sleep."

Sango didn't know what to say. She had been so positive it was a stray, seeing the kit stumped her.

Miroku saved her. "Shippou, how would you like to sleep under the stars?"

"Tonight? Yay!" the kitsune hugged the ex-monk excitedly.

"Let's go get you ready."

Shippou squealed and headed for the small cellar that doubled as a mini basement.

Sango watched the little kit run off. "Shame we couldn't have kids," she muttered wistfully.

"Yeah. But, there's more time for us that way."

"Yes. That's always nice. And I guess we've already taken one in, haven't we?"

……………

……………


	9. Meetings in a Different Light

A Single Strand 

Chapter 9

Meetings in a Different Light

"Inu Yasha!" a little voice called.

The hanyou's ear flicked at the sound of the voice. No one of concern, he thought. Inu Yasha licked absently at the small amount of spit that had begun to trickle down his jaw. He rolled over, bringing Kagome with him. Kagome mumbled something.

"Inu Yasha!" the kit yelled again.

Finally, Inu Yasha groaned, sitting up groggily. "What is it?" he mumbled.

Shippou heard him any way, even through the glass windowpane. "Something's wrong."

"Something?"

"Yeah, I can feel it. The birds aren't singing."

Inu Yasha thought momentarily, focusing, before sitting bolt upright, golden eyes wide. "Sesshomaru," he muttered. That was a great wake up call.

……………

Inu Yasha stumbled down the stairs, Kagome right behind him. "Inu Yasha?" she asked. He had woken her up and told her to get ready. They had both gotten dressed and they were headed down the stairs.

Inu Yasha paused. "Yes, Mate?"

"Just tell the world. What's going on this time?"

"My other half is on his way."

Inu Yasha got to the bottom of the stairs. Kagome stopped for a second. As Inu Yasha opened the front door, she followed.

Outside, everything seemed the same as the last demon encounter, only part of the house was still rubble.

Inu Yasha took a seat in the middle of the lawn. "It'll be a while."

"What could he want?" Kagome asked, walking up to crouch beside her hanyou.

"A fight, probably. What else could he want? I beat him before, I can beat him again."

Kagome could tell Inu Yasha was putting up a brave front, but he was really uncertain inside. She put her hand on his shoulder. "It'll be ok."

Inu Yasha didn't look at her, but he nodded. He kept staring out at the forest, waiting for any sign that his other half had arrived.

They all waited for a good half-hour before Sesshomaru appeared. He walked up calmly, a small girl following.

Inu Yasha stood, hand on the katana hilt. "You here for a rematch?"

"No. You are a catalyst. Youkaibo launches an attack upon this place. Naraku means war."

"Thanks for the info. What makes you think I can trust you?"

"It's all up to you. I thought you might need a little help. I'd rather help you than that company."

"Oh, I'm honored," Inu Yasha rolled his eyes. "Fine then. Make yourself at home."

"Since when can _you_ invite someone else into _my_ house?" Sango shouted.

"Fine. You tell my other half he can't stay!" Inu Yasha's ears slipped back a little.

Sango looked from Inu Yasha to Sesshomaru. "Uh…no. That's ok. My house is your house."

"We will be fine out here. If you need our assistance, call. Sesshomaru, your older brother, or Rin, your brother's mate."

"Yeah, yeah. Sure. Whatever."

Sesshomaru turned to leave. "By the way, you should expect another visitor or two later on." Finished, Sesshomaru and Rin headed back into the forest.

"Wow. See, there was nothing to be afraid of," Kagome muttered.

Sango stood for a moment. "I didn't know you had a brother!"

"He's not exactly my brother. He's the full demon half of my DNA."

"So we should be expecting more," Miroku mused.

"Let me guess. The next one's a cousin?" Sango wondered.

"I don't think so. What's a cousin?"

……………

"Inu Yasha. Beautiful Inu Yasha," Kikyou whispered to herself. How long had she watched him from outside the test tube, yearning for him to awaken to her touch? But it wasn't meant to be. That hated "clone" of hers, Kagome, had gotten to him first. And now the hanyou was beyond her grasp.

"Kikyou, Naraku-sama wishes to speak with you," the pale, emotionless demon reported.

Kikyou looked at the demon with disgust, although she hid it from her tone. That creature that always appeared without warning to report what Naraku wished. "He really needs to learn that I don't like the demons. He should come himself. You never know what I might do to one of your...race."

"Naraku-sama wishes to speak with you," the demon repeated, unfazed by the threat.

"I know, I know." Kikyou stood and Naraku's personal demon led her to a deeper level of the building. Naraku didn't look up as two approached.

"Kikyou, as you requested, Naraku-sama."

"Very good, Kanna. Now, leave us."

"Yes, Naraku-sama." Kanna left the room, leaving man and woman alone.

"What do you desire, Naraku?" Kikyou asked.

Naraku stared at something that was behind the thick iron bars. "Kikyou, take a look at these demons."

Kikyou ignored the order. "Those aren't demons."

"No, they aren't. Just what I'd expect from you. This is what happens when we don't have scientists of your caliber. The demon, already with a taste of the human blood, find themselves heavy with the desire to 'mate' with their awakeners. This," Naraku gestured to the creatures within the cages, "is what you get when you let that happen."

"Why should I care?" Kikyou asked, studying the hanyou. (Meant to be plural, but the Japanese don't use plural nouns...)

The two in front of her looked severely depressed and under fed. The male was easily twice as big as any human, but looked remotely human for the most part. Huge eyes looked mournfully down at her. The neighboring hanyou was a small, sliver-haired female with a dark tan and crimson hues.

"As you well know, the experimental hanyou that we intentionally created escaped. He's putting up too much resistance, even causing a couple hundred demons to escape as well to join him. One of them expected a war to happen. Will you lead an army against them?"

"Yes, if that is what you want."

"Good. I will reward you later. For now, I will leave you to prepare how you wish," Naraku walked up the flight of stairs.

"Inu Yasha. Beautiful Inu Yasha. I will kill you, Inu Yasha," Kikyou whispered to herself. The thought brought great joy to the woman.

……………

The group had waited outside of the house for the other demons they had been warned about.

Three hours later, while they were in the middle of lunch, Inu Yasha stopped. "Damn it. I warned him."

"Inu Yasha, what is it?"

"That mangy wolf. If he thinks he can come here, he has another thing coming."

"Inu Yasha, you won't hurt him," Kagome ordered.

"Kagome, it was part of the deal."

"I didn't say the two of you could make a deal. So, it's off. You won't hurt him."

"Fine. Remember, you're mine."

"I know. Don't be such a baby. I have to take care of him because I woke him up. It's just like how I have to take care of Shippou."

"Yeah, well about that…"

"Inu Yasha!"

"I was joking."

"Yeah, but you better behave, or you'll be in the dog house."

"That's where mutts belong, isn't it?" The voice came from the edge of the forest.

The group looked over. Kouga was practically falling over as he limped into view. Kagome rushed over to help him, Inu Yasha close behind to keep watch. Kouga slumped to the ground as the pair approached.

"Kouga, what happened?" Kagome asked, picking up on all the bruises and cuts as she knelt beside him.

"I didn't tell them anything. They don't like that," Kouga replied, wincing in pain.

"Oh, Kouga. I'm sorry. Sango, you have a fist aid kit?"

"Yeah. Just a sec." Sango left to go find the item.

"Don't worry Kagome. I'm fine."

Inu Yasha snorted. "That why your lying on the ground, almost dead?"

"Kagome's safe. I wasn't the one to tell, so Kagome got a head start. I'm fine knowing she's doing good."

"I just love your logic."

"Inu Yasha, be nice."

"Whatever you say, Mate."

"What? Kagome…you didn't," Kouga looked up, hurt in his eyes.

"I did. But…it's nothing really. I still care about you, it's just a different way."

Kouga lay back down. "If you're happy, Kagome."

"I am."

Sango hurried up with the first aid kit. "Here. I hope there's enough there."

"Thanks," Kagome smiled as she accepted the white box. "Now, hold still."

Kagome started applying antiseptic. Kouga shut his eyes, taking a sharp intake of breath.

"Sorry. I forgot to mention it stings a little."

"I'm fine," Kouga replied quickly.

"Yeah, right," Inu Yasha smirked.

"Shut up, hanyou." Kouga tried to sit up, but fell back.

"Kouga, don't move," Kagome ordered gently before turning to Inu Yasha and changing her tone to harshness. "Inu Yasha, stop antagonizing him."

"I'm not antagonizing any body."

"Yes you are," Sango retaliated.

"Oh, Sango. You're still there," Kagome looked up for a moment.

"Yes. I was just a little curious."

"Oh, right, right. Sango, this is Kouga. Kouga, Sango. We've been living here for a while."

"So I gathered," Kouga mumbled.

"You're a wolf demon, huh?" Sango asked, kneeling beside Kagome.

"Yeah."

"No pack?"

"Not really, I guess."

"Not true," Kagome said quickly.

"It's not?"

"It's not. We have our own pack going. You and me and Inu Yasha and Shippou. Sango and Miroku. I think even that other demon, Sesshomaru and his mate. We're all part of a new little pack. That way, none of us are alone in this."

"Keh," Inu Yasha snapped. "Whatever 'this' is."

……………

After a while, Kagome got Kouga bandaged up. They moved back inside. Sango and Miroku started working on the repairs again. Once Kouga was sleeping, Kagome made Inu Yasha help as well. However, they were only working for a good hour when the third intruder arrived. Again, everyone ended up outside.

This time, they came upon the Wind Sorceress Kagura.

"What are you doing here?" Inu Yasha demanded.

"Waiting. We wish to help."

"We?" Kagome asked.

"I think a little under a third of the company's supply of demons have decided to join."

"What about Naraku? I thought you work for that ass."

"Naraku is a bastard. We all knew this, but we couldn't act. You, however, have given us that opportunity, and we are taking it. Do you accept us as your troops or not?"

"Are you serious?"

"Perfectly."

"Is this really war then?"

"Obviously. If it wasn't before, it will be soon, at any rate."

"Damn it."

"Don't swear at me. It was part of your brother's plans, I think."

"Fine then. You guys can stay around here, in the forest." The group of demons slunk away to lurk deeper in the forest, as Inu Yasha suggested.

"Good decision," Kagura muttered before taking off on her own as well.

"If it comes to a war…" Inu Yasha turned to Kagome. "I want you to stay out of it."

"What? No."

"Kagome, there's going to be a lot of stuff you don't need to see."

"No one needs to see war, Inu Yasha."

"Exactly, especially you."

"I'm going. I can't sit around here and wait. I don't want to be left here, wondering if you're going to come back or not. I couldn't stand it."

"But…Kagome, I can't be distracted."

"You won't be. I promise."

"If I'm trying to protect you, I will be distracted. What can you do, then?"

"Well, I did a bit of archery when I was a kid. I was into a lot of old fashioned stuff back then. I think that's where my little demon kick started too."

"So, if we find you a bow, you can fight with me."

"Actually," Miroku started. "We might have one in the basement."

"Great," Inu Yasha muttered somewhat sarcastically.

"Inu Yasha," Kagome warned.

"I don't want to see you get hurt, Kagome."

"Aw, I love you too."

……………

……………


	10. Revelation and Plans

A Single Strand

Chapter 10

Revelation and Plans

Kagome was taking a break from working. She had started feeling a little woozy in the close confines of the house, so she headed outside for fresh air. She had tried to slip out quietly so no one knew. Kagome just really wanted some alone time to think things through. Sitting on the porch with a cup of iced tea seemed like a good place to mull things over.

She had been sitting for only a few minutes before she spotted movement at the fringe of the forest. Kagome watched carefully. The small girl who had arrived with Inu Yasha's brother hid behind a tree.

"Hey," Kagome called softly. "What are you doing?"

"Oh," Rin laughed slightly, stepping out from behind the tree. "I was just…looking for someone to play with. Sesshomaru-kun wanted some time alone, so I was bored."

"I don't think any of the demons out there will play nicely with you. Why don't you come here?"

"Yay!" Rin ran forward and sat quickly on the step next to Kagome.

Kagome smiled. The young girl reminded her of Shippou, so energetic and carefree.

"Hey, what's your name?" Rin asked.

"Kagome."

"Oh, that's right! My name's Rin. But…I guess you already knew that, didn't you?"

"That's ok. We're formally acquainted now."

"All right. Whatever that means… So, you have a demon too, right?"

"Yeah, sort of."

"Sesshomaru-kun's brother, right? But…Sesshomaru said he was a…a…a hanyou, that's what it was. That means he's half of a demon, and half of a human. That's how Sesshomaru-kun said it."

"Yes, but that's not all."

"Oh, that's right. That other demon who followed us here! Sesshomaru-kun kept talking about him. Well, not really, but he was considered in the plans, I think. He mentioned him a couple times before we left, any ways."

"I also have a little kitsune. I think you two would get along well together."

"You think?"

"Yeah. But I think he's helping fix the house right now."

"What happened to it?"

"You know that one demon, Kagura? She did it the first time she came here."

"I knew it! I knew that one ate houses."

"She didn't eat it. She destroyed it."

"And I am sure she sends her apologies about that," Sesshomaru stated as he walked out of the forest's shadows. "But…orders are orders. A demon's job is to obey them."

"Sesshomaru-kun!" Rin shouted. She stood up and waved. Sesshomaru started walking slowly over. Rin hurried to meet him and pulled him into a faster pace to where Kagome was sitting. "Sesshomaru-kun, this is Kagome. Kagome, this is Sesshomaru-kun, my demon. There, now you two are also formidably acquitted."

Sesshomaru raised his eyebrows slightly, looking at Rin, who had taken a standing position at Kagome's side.

"Formally acquainted," Kagome corrected quietly.

Sesshomaru nodded once.

"Ne, Kagome, what happened to your neck?" Rin asked.

"Oh," Kagome blushed and put her hand over the mark Rin had noticed. "It was nothing really."

"She is a demon's mate. That is what that mark symbolizes," Sesshomaru stated.

"Oh," Rin paused. "What's a mate?"

"A couple. Husband and wife."

"Oh." Again, Rin paused, looking down, thinking deeply. She looked to her demon suddenly. "Why can't we be like that?"

Kagome started. She knew it was a childhood dream to get married, but…well, maybe it only seemed weird after dealing with the true meaning to things.

"Is that what you want, Rin?" Sesshomaru asked.

"I don't know. Kagome, is it something I should want?" Rin turned to face Kagome directly.

"It's something you should wait for, I think. Until you're older."

"I'm twenty. Isn't that old enough?"

"Twenty?" Kagome mouthed.

"We'll talk later, Rin," Sesshomaru stated. "Please, go back to our spot. I'll be there in a minute."

"Oh, that's right. You had some things you wanted to talk to Kagome about. I remember now. Kay. I'll see you soon, Sesshomaru-kun!" Rin ran off to the forest.

"She's older than me?" Kagome mused quietly.

"She has a disease that limited her growth. She hasn't grown to the fullest extent of her years."

"Oh. I see. So, you wanted something?"

"Yes. I wanted to know what the plan was."

"Plan?"

"Yes. A plan. Something we can follow."

"Oh, well, I haven't really thought of that. I didn't think that was my job. I thought…well, maybe I was just here, like everyone else."

"You started a movement, Kagome. You are now responsible."

"What did I do? I don't understand how anything could have been started."

"You left Youkaibo. You ruined the structure of the company, sent a ripple of change all the way to the top. Naraku can't stand change like this. He thought his little company was perfect, flawless. You proved him wrong. He sent demons after you, and they rebelled against him. Naraku is furious. And you did nothing?"

"Wow. I guess I never thought about it. Everything I did, I was doing for selfish reasons. But…all that really happened because of me."

"Demons do not attack for without reason."

Kagome laughed blandly. "I guess they don't."

"So, what is your plan?"

"You'll have to wait for that. I don't know how to do this. I need to talk to Inu Yasha about this. And Sango and Miroku. They'll probably be better equipped for things like this."

"May I make a suggestion?"

"Yeah, go ahead. I might have to ask you for help too, if you don't mind."

"Send out a few for surveillance. Keep a look out posted so we know where to expect attacks."

"That's a good idea. How do I do that?"

"Call Kagura. She got most of them out here, so she can probably tell them what to do better than any of us, besides you. She will also know their strong points, seeing as she worked the network."

"Wow, Naraku had demons in high positions," Kagome muttered. _And I was just a librarian._

"That was all I came to find out. Again, if you have need, call." Sesshomaru turned and walked back to the forest.

"Wait," Kagome called.

Sesshomaru turned.

"Rin's a cute girl. Take care of her."

"I've never done otherwise." Sesshomaru left.

Kagome opened her mouth to yell for the Wind Sorceress, but she decided she didn't feel like yelling. She closed her mouth and went inside to find Inu Yasha. If there was anyone who yelled a lot, Inu Yasha was one.

In a few minutes time, the three humans, Inu Yasha and Shippou were back outside.

"Hey, Kagura! Get over here!" Inu Yasha shouted.

"Inu Yasha, be more polite, would you?" Kagome hissed.

"That was polite. Look, I'm just doing what you asked me to."

"Be nicer next time."

"Fine, fine."

There was a rustle in the trees, then Kagura stood in front of them. "What is it?" she snapped.

"We were hoping that you could get some demons to patrol the perimeters, keep a look out for any thing Naraku wants to throw at us."

"That's easy. I could get all of them on it."

"Just the best ones for the job."

"I know just the ones."

"I believe it."

"Is that all you need?"

"Yes."

Kagura nodded once and disappeared again.

"She sure comes and goes," Sango muttered.

"Well, she is a wind demon," Miroku replied.

"Does that really mean anything?" Kagome asked.

"I don't know. It sounded good, though."

……………

……………


	11. Hanyou Galore

A Single Strand

Chapter 11

Hanyou Galore

It was two weeks before any sign of an attack was seen. One of the patrol demons had spotted the attack from the direction they had all come, passed on the information to Kagura, who, in turn, passed it on to Kagome.

"We're being attacked," Kagura stated bluntly as Kagome arrived.

"Really? How many?" Kagome asked, calmer than she had thought she would be in the face of such danger.

"A small army, I would say. I took a look for myself, just to make sure. It would appear Naraku has decided to throw away the lives of the hanyou accidents."

Kagome looked to Inu Yasha, who had been smirking up to that point. Inu Yasha noticed Kagome's glance and muttered, "If they attack, I'll fight. I don't care who it is."

"But, they're like you."

"I'll fight if they attack. They could be humans for all I care. Or aliens."

"Well, that's promising," Kagome laughed.

In hours, Kagome had Sango, Miroku, Inu Yasha, Sesshomaru, Kagura, a mostly recovered Kouga, and a good number of demons who had broken off from Youkaibo, all gathered a decent way from the forest. Rin had been left behind, pouting with Shippou. There was a cloud of dust on the horizon, steadily growing larger.

It was a long time before Kagome could see anything clearly. It really did look like an army, with several larger demons (half demons, Inu Yasha corrected) that looked like tanks, smaller foot soldiers, and a rim that seemed to keep everything inside together.

The small force gained ground quickly, but did not reach Kagome's group before nightfall. The night was spent outside, and upon daybreak the next day, the Youkaibo group was almost upon them.

The biggest surprise came when the army had arrived within attacking range. The larger hanyou broke off and started attacking the full-blooded demons and humans on the outside. The others in the center also converged and did the same.

Some of the guards fled on the spot, followed by a trail of hanyou that refused to let them get far. Some decided to attack their fellows, joining in the bloodshed with the hanyou. The rest stood their ground and were quickly eliminated.

With the idea of bloodshed, some of the group Kagome had brought bolted forward and joined the fray. Kouga looked ready to join in, but Kagome stopped him.

Shortly after the battle began, two figures stepped forward. Inu Yasha and Kouga stood protectively in front of Kagome, growling.

One of the figures was easily twice the size of a normal human, despite the fact that he was hunching over. Large arms hung down to the ground, his fingers almost brushing the earth. Just like his legs, they looked only strong enough to support him. He had a long, horse-ish appearance around his nose area. The rest of his face was taken up by large eyes that were different hues of blue all the way through. The top of his head was the same color as the rest of him, a strange mottled orangeish pinkish tan. At the nape of his neck was a small black attempted-pony tail.

Beside him walked a young girl, walking calmly despite the commotion around her. The girl seemed insignificant next to the large form of her companion. She had long, silver hair and tan skin. Her eyes were an odd light purple color. Kagome was reminded of stories she had read about vampires.

"We would like to speak with the one called Kagome," the girl stated, looking at the group that had held back.

"What do you think you are doing, Shiori?" Kagura demanded.

"I am not speaking to you, Kagura. I wish to speak with Kagome."

"Abomination," Kagura hissed, earning a sharp glare and a growl from Kouga.

"That's me," Kagome stepped forward, worming between her two body guards.

The two hanyou bowed before her. Shiori continued to speak, "We have come far in the past days. Before, we never saw the light of day. Because of what we are, not by choice, but because of complications that preceded us, we were caged deep in the heart of the company. Those of us you see before you were born because of a union between the humans and their awakened demons. With the small amount of blood they were transfused with, they became mad with the desire to mate. Thus, we became what we are.

"We are no different from you. We feel. We think. We bleed. We desired freedom Youkaibo did not wish to give us. We wanted to know what the sun was. Now, we have seen the sun, and we have been set loose. Naraku's orders were to crush Kagome and her allies, but we do not wish to do so. Kagome has done us no harm. Kagome protected an artificial version of what we are. Naraku has done nothing for us. He possesses the idea that we are insignificant. He treated us badly, like criminals.

"So, if Kagome will have us, we will fight on your side. We can prove that we are not insignificant, that there is no shame in being half human and half demon. We are grateful, Kagome, that you have enabled us freedom. Please, let us repay you."

Kagome stood, appalled. The fight continued on, though it hardly seemed like a fight. It was more of a slaughter for the unfortunate supporters of Youkaibo.

Inu Yasha cleared his throat and nudged Kagome in the back. "Say something."

"Well, I guess we'll be glad to have you with us. Thank you."

"Again, Kagome, it is we who are to be thanking you."

……………

"Naraku-sama, a field man is here to report on the results of the battle between our hanyou force and Kagome's force," the cold demon stated dully, walking out of the room at her master's nod.

A man walked slowly into the room. His face was splattered with blood and his clothes were ripped. He favored his right arm and looked about ready to pass out.

"Your report," Naraku ordered quietly, apparently oblivious of the condition his employee was in.

"We got there perfectly fine. However, the hanyou rebelled and have joined the enemy. There is only a handful of human survivors, and we are in no condition to go out again. All of the demons that went with were whipped out. I think this counts as a loss, sir."

"Damn it," Naraku hissed, fist slamming into the table. "Kanna!"

The pale demon glided into the room. "Yes, Naraku-sama?"

"Fetch Kikyou for me. Give the order that she is to move out with the demons prepared for war."

"Yes, Naraku-sama." Kanna bowed and left the room.

"Sir…" the soldier brought Naraku's attention upon himself. "May I leave now?"

With a snarl, Naraku held out his hand. No one angered Naraku and lived to tell about it. That Kagome was a special case, but her time was slowly running out. His fury was so strong that he didn't hear the scream of pain before the soldier died.

……………

The new hanyou had very little information left after the initial conversation. Kagome had been curious and asked the bat hanyou, one of the few that actually talked to her, about the possibility of the oncoming war.

"Naraku was thinking about it, I am sure. I'm also sure that, because of our so-called rebellion, Naraku will be hard pressed to match our numbers. If he wants anything to be done now, he will have to deploy all of the demons in his arsenal."

"So you think…" Kagome stopped, trying to phrase the question properly.

"War is eminent. It will definitely come down to a battle."

"All right. Thanks."

The bat hanyou walked back to where her large body guard was standing and the pair continued away.

Inu Yasha plodded silently to where Kagome was standing. He wrapped his arms around his mate. Kagome sighed, melting into her demon's embrace.

"What's wrong Kagome?" Inu Yasha asked, concerned.

"There's just so much going on. I was so…" Kagome stopped. She had been terrified that the hanyou were attacking. She had never faced true combat before, and if the hanyou hadn't turned against the rest of the assailants, she doubted that she would be standing in Inu Yasha's arms at the time. She really didn't want to admit that though.

"It'll be alright, Kagome. You need a break from this. Come on, let's go back to the house."

Inu Yasha picked Kagome up and quickly arrived at Sango and Miroku's house. The couple had already returned, but Kagome felt obligated to watch over the hanyou as they settled.

Sango greeted Kagome and Inu Yasha as they walked in the door. She hurried into the kitchen and started preparing sandwiches. Inu Yasha and Kagome settled at the table while their hostess finished. After she was done, she joined them at the table.

"There's so many of them now," Sango commented. "They can't possibly all fit in the forest. Everyone will know where we are. It's not good."

"I talked to the girl again. She said that Naraku was pretty much most definitely preparing for war against us," Kagome mumbled.

Sango chuckled. "There used to be a time where I waited for a chance like this. I never thought it would be possible, seeing as it was just Miroku and I, plus an occasional, five-second supporter here and there. But now…it's really possible. We are going to destroy Youkaibo."

Kagome laughed quietly. "You really think we can do this?"

"Well, before I wasn't so sure, but now with the added force of the hanyou, I think we can."

"You sound so confident."

"Well, I am. I had training in Youkaibo, and I picked up enough outside. I think that these demons and hanyou have been yearning to stretch their claws against it. We will win."

"Yeah, well…"

"I don't think we should stay here," Inu Yasha cut into the conversation. His voice was quiet, but Sango and Kagome immediately turned their attention to him.

"What do you mean?" Kagome asked gently.

"Now that we're out in the open, any one else in this area will get involved. There're too many humans around to easily avoid outside casualties. I think we should move to a better location."

"I see you're point," Miroku agreed, walking into the room. He gave Sango a quick kiss before settling down at the table as well.

"We need to find an area where we won't easily be seen. An open area that could encompass all of us," Sango started laying out ideas.

"A plain, maybe…" Miroku offered.

"To flat. We'd be seen miles away."

Kagome and Inu Yasha glanced at each other. They were almost lost.

"We can't find another forest, that's government property if we could find one large enough."

"How about a valley. I'm sure there's one around here somewhere that will be large enough. It was an earthquake hotspot for a long time, remember?"

"Yeah. You know, that might work. What do you think Kagome?" Miroku asked, looking to Kagome for the answer.

"I think it might. I don't know. All these decisions. Maybe we should look around for a while…"

"We don't have the luxury," Inu Yasha muttered.

"He's right. Time is something we are going to run out of," Miroku commented.

"Well, we have to look a little. We could spend tomorrow looking, and if it works…we can go there."

"That sounds about right," Sango beamed.

"It seems like you have more strategic ability than you give yourself credit for, Kagome," Miroku nodded.

Kagome blushed a little.

"That's all fine and good. Now that we have plans taken care of, Kagome's going to sleep."

"What? But it's early," Kagome whined.

Inu Yasha smirked slightly. "So?"

Kagome's blush deepened. "Can't you be a little more subtle?"

Miroku raised his eyebrows and looked suggestively at Sango. Sango sighed, shaking her head.

"Well, good night," Kagome smiled.

The human couple said their good nights and Kagome walked out of the kitchen. Inu Yasha picked her up and carried her to their bedroom. Shippou had spent the day outside, so Inu Yasha didn't have to worry about him. He set Kagome down lightly, smirking at the idea of his plan actually succeeding. The door shut quietly.

……………

……………

A/N: I want to thank anyone and everyone who has stopped by to take a look at this story! I have 1000 hits on it!!!!! Throws a celebration This calls for something, but I don't know what...Maybe another update? Yes! I will give you all another update!!! Enjoy! Oh, and please please please review!


	12. Gaining Better Footing

A Single Strand

Chapter 12

Gaining Better Footing

The attempt at finding a better hiding spot started bright and early the next day. Sango and Miroku managed to get the internet up and running. Inu Yasha, being skeptical of modern technology and claiming it as evil ("Why do you think Youkaibo uses it?), took off on foot to explore the area. Kagome was left with nothing to do, so she wandered around, checking on things.

By the end of the day, Sango and Miroku had picked out several locations that might work. Inu Yasha came back just before nightfall, tired, but satisfied. He mentioned a place that might take a little while to get too, but it fit the description.

It was a combination of a plain and a valley. It was large enough to fit two armies, according to Inu Yasha's guess. Sango showed him a couple pictures on the internet, and he was able to pick it out. Sango and Miroku had also been looking at that one as a possibility.

They took the matter up with Kagome, and she agreed easily. Not long after that, she called all of the demons and the hanyou that she knew to a little meeting.

Kagura shoot Shiori several dirty looks, which the young hanyou pointedly ignored. Sesshomaru stood by passively, watching everyone carefully. Rin sat by Sesshomaru, leaning against his leg. Kouga sat at Kagome's feet, watching and waiting incase any of the demons wished to result to foul play. Inu Yasha was at her other side, standing with a hand on the hilt of his katana. Shippou was with Sango and Miroku, who knew the plan and decided to stay out of the meeting. Kagome looked around at her companions.

"Well, I'm sure you all are wondering why I called you here," Kagome started, hesitantly.

The demons shrugged. There could only be one reason, they were going to move out.

"Ok, well, the forest doesn't hide all of you too well, so I thought we'd move to a different location. There's a nice little valley a good ways away, and I thought it would be a good place for us to hold our ground."

"If you think it is a good place, I believe we should go there," Sesshomaru stated quietly. Rin nodded her head frantically in agreement with her demon. "Me too! Me too!"

Kagura shrugged. One place was as good as any other as far as she was concerned.

"That's all fine and good, but what about us? Some of us are seriously wounded. We need a couple more days to recover," Shiori asked. Her hanyou companion nodded.

"You can have it," Kagome decided quickly. "Naraku's troops shouldn't be here for at least another week, maybe two. The injured will have enough time to recover by then, and they can hurry and catch up to us. We are talking about demons, and hanyou heal faster than humans, right?"

"You know your stuff. We will be able to catch up within the week. I ask for a three day wait, just to make sure."

"Ok. Well, Kagura, do you think you can inform all of the demons you brought about the plan? Get them ready to leave in the morning."

"I think we'd attract way too much attention traveling in broad daylight. There are a few too many of us to sneak around," Kagura replied.

"We will start in the morning. Only until the end of the forest, then we can wait there until nightfall. We can keep going. Inu Yasha, how long would you say it would take?"

"I got there pretty quickly, it only took me a couple hours. But, with a large group, we don't want any stragglers, so we need to stick together. Moving at a human's pace, I'd say it would take a day. But, we'd be traveling by night, so…probably three days. Course that mountain's a bitch to climb, that might add a night or two."

"Five night's then. Think we can do it?"

"Most of us can," Kagura stated almost proudly.

"In three day's time, we will be able too," Shiori spoke for the hanyou. Again, her companion just nodded.

"Ok, get everyone packed up and ready. Sesshomaru, if you could help Kagura…"

"I don't need any help. I can take care of it faster on my own," the Wind sorceress snapped.

"Suit yourself," Sesshomaru replied coldly.

"Behave," Kagome warned.

Kagura snorted lightly. "I'm off then." She headed off into the forest.

"You're starting to become a leader now, Kagome," Sesshomaru complimented before taking off with Rin.

"Shiori," Kagome started quietly. The hanyou was preparing to leave as well, but stopped at Kagome's small request.

"Um…do you think you can get the hanyou that weren't hurt ready for tomorrow? Leave a few here, incase there's an attack, but…"

"It won't be a problem. Shall I accompany you or stay here?"

"Whatever you want to do. I can send someone back here to lead you to the area."

"I would like to come, but…"

"But what?"

"Jinenji was hurt. I'd like to stay with him."

"Jinenji?"

"My companion. We were cellmates, so we have suffered much together. Jinenji is too much of a softie, see?"

"Jinenji," Kagome confirmed, looking closely at the large hanyou. Kagome realized the large cut on his arm.

"Kagome," Jinenji replied quietly, bowing slightly.

"Ok, well then, I will see you around. Good luck."

"Yes. Good night, Kagome," Shiori waved as she turned and walked side by side with Jinenji into the forest.

"What about me, Kagome?" Kouga asked eagerly.

"What do you mean?"

"What can I do?"

"Scout. I've seen you Kouga. You're really fast, so you should have no problem keeping lookout for obstacles."

"I can go back after I know where it is, too, if you want."

"Why so eager, wolf? Trying to get Kagome to like you more?"

"I want to help Kagome, mutt!" Kouga shouted, standing.

"Boys, knock it off," Kagome put herself between them. "Kouga, I'd be very grateful to you if you would do that. You don't seem to mind the hanyou too much."

"Just me. Course, you must not think I matter," Inu Yasha muttered.

"Enough of that," Kagome snapped back.

"I know how they must feel. Being out casts, considered abominations, like Kagura said. Treated like their scum just because their blood is a little different. Youkaibo did the same to me." Finished with the statement, Kouga headed for the woods as well.

"Hm. You can't really judge people, can you?" Inu Yasha mused.

"No, you can't. So, be a little nicer."

"Fine, fine."

"You said that last time."

"Yeah, and I was until he started sucking up to you."

"He wasn't sucking up, he was trying to be helpful."

"Sure, take his side."

"Inu Yasha, if you're going to be so immature about this, you can sleep alone tonight. I owe Shippou some attention."

"Kagome!"

"Fine. I'm sorry and I'll treat that wolf better. Happy now?"

"Yes, but I still owe Shippou some time. We'll all sleep together, just like old times."

"Bleah," Inu Yasha stuck out his tongue.

"Did you say something?"

"Not a thing!"

"Good boy. Now, let's go get ready. We have a big day ahead of us."

……………

The next day, Kagome's group of demons, hanyou, and a handful of humans set out. Shiori and Jinenji showed them off. They made it to the edge of the forest by the time it started getting hot, and they stopped there. Kagome started practicing with her weapon of choice, and by the end of the day, was able to hit the target most of the time.

They continued on at sunset, carrying on throughout the cool night. They continued that way for three days, until they got to a large mountain. Kouga went back for the hanyou.

The next night, they skirted around, looking for a lower rise, and finally found an entrance at a little stream. They gathered in the center of the large plain like area, ready for an attack on any side. A few days later, they were joined by the rest of the hanyou.

Kagome set lookouts on the points of the mountains. She didn't expect any encounters for a while.

Two weeks after they had arrived, the sky grew dark and it rained ash upon them. One of the scouts abandoned his post to inform them that there was a large fire in the area that they had abandoned. Sango swore, upset at the loss of her house. The sentry returned to his post.

Later that week, they received the information that Youkaibo's army was approaching. The most distressing news followed. Kikyou was at the front of the army.

……………

……………


	13. The Start of War

A Single Strand

Chapter 13

The Start of War

As soon as it was revealed that Kikyou was leading the opposing army, everything grew silent. Many of the demons had heard tell of the horrible things that Kikyou was capable of. To the demons, she was a bogeyman.

"That horrible woman," Kagome muttered. "Which way are they coming from?"

"Apparently, it's the same way we came from," the scout stated.

"Ok, we'll set up an ambush. I need thirty of you to go and wait at the opening we came in from. Just give them a small welcome and retreat."

Immediately, a bunch of demons and a few hanyou set off for the designated area.

"How far away were they?"

"They're pretty close. Maybe several hours."

"Ok. Everyone else, get ready. Since there aren't any more easy openings, we'll gather closer to it, so they won't be able to send their full force after us all at once. It's going to get dark soon, but that doesn't mean they won't attack. Find a partner and sleep in shifts."

The rebel army reformed quickly closer to the opening. They surrounded the space in a wide arc, leaving a bit of room for the ambushers to do their work.

Throughout the night, there was a constant change of watch. Everyone took Kagome's ideas and orders seriously.

Kagome slept fitfully, waking up constantly to have Inu Yasha tell her to go back to sleep. There was a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach, anticipation -but not desire- for the cruelties of war, the idea that everyone would die, pushed aside and stored there, and a deep, overwhelming dread. Inu Yasha was a comfort and an ease for that, but it never went away.

There were no attacks during the night. The entire force woke as one with the sunrise they couldn't see. While they were still in the predawn shadows, the ambush party ran up to them, significantly diminished. Several of them were supporting wounded allies.

"We got some of them. Gave 'em a good smack. Don't think they'll underestimate us. Stayed a little too long, longer than we should have." All of the returning demons muttered as they passed.

The severely injured were situated back away from the future battle sight. The rest helped a little, remaining completely silent.

"We have to get closer. If we stop Kikyou's force from picking up momentum, let only a small group through at a time, we might be able to hold out. Short ranged attackers to the front. Sesshomaru, Kouga, and Inu Yasha will lead. Long ranged attackers fall back. You'll be with me. Kagura, will join me in command. Ok, let's move."

Again, the group moved. As a wave, the larger demons and hanyou moved out.

Sesshomaru had to snap at Rin before she would stay behind, and she started crying. "You can't do anything. Any demon wouldn't think twice about ripping you apart, and I can't stand that idea. I'm sorry Rin," Sesshomaru whispered, trying to make up.

"Go," Rin pushed Sesshomaru away. With a sad, barely noticeable smile, and a pat on the head as farewell, Sesshomaru took his place.

"Good luck Kagome!" Kouga shouted, trotting out to the front of the line.

Kagome waved back.

Inu Yasha pulled Kagome to him. "I love you. Just in case I won't be able to tell you tonight."

"Don't say that."

"I love you anyway."

"I love you too. Now, get going."

"All right. I'm going." Inu Yasha let go and started off.

"Wait, Inu Yasha! One last thing!"

Inu Yasha turned.

"Be safe!"

He smirked. "You too." Then, he was gone, joining in the flood and making it to the front where Sesshomaru and Kouga were.

Kagome watched. She spotted Shiori and Jinenji in the crowd. She saw Miroku inch his way through the crowd and pull up next to Inu Yasha, talking.

She smiled sadly, hoping it wouldn't be the last time she would see them. The larger demons had passed, and they were followed by smaller ones that were no doubt just as dangerous.

Shippou ran up and hopped onto her shoulder.

"Think we should get going now?" Kagome asked the kit.

Shippou nodded. "I'm scared."

"I know."

Kagura came up to Kagome. "We're ready now."

"Ok! Everyone else, let's go!"

The second wave formed and moved out, following Kagome. Kagura took to the air.

Sango caught up to Kagome from the crowd.

"Sango!" Kagome exclaimed.

"Hey. First time, huh?"

"Yeah. Why'd you want to stay back here?"

"Miroku made me. He doesn't want me in the thick of things. Men, you know."

"Yeah."

"Besides, I can go either way. That's what I love about this," Sango hoisted her giant boomerang a little higher.

"I could see where it would come in handy," Kagome agreed, smiling slightly.

Sango put a hand on Kagome's shoulder for reassurance. "It'll be fine."

"I hope," Kagome added.

They continued at a brisk pace to the area. When Kagome arrived, there was a small scuffle under way. "Attack!" Kagome shouted. She pulled her bow from over her shoulder as she got closer. Most of the demons followed, getting the opponents in range better before attempting an attack.

Before her, Kagome could see demons being torn apart by demons. The longer-range attacks were focused towards the opening that more demons were poring into.

Kagome's first shot missed completely, imbedding into the ground. She swore as she took out another arrow and shot it. This one hit an incoming demon's shoulder. It snarled and pulled it out, singling Kagome out. Before it could take two steps, it was engaged by two of her allies, and promptly killed.

Kagome shot a few more arrows. The demons stopped coming through. Slightly confused, Kagome looked around to see how her companions were doing.

Inu Yasha was pushing endlessly onward, his other half at his side. Inu Yasha had blood running down his arms, and little flecks everywhere. He swung his sword with little grace and skill, but Kagome thought that might just seem that way because of Sesshomaru's apparent skill, despite the loss of an arm. The full-blooded demon half had a few splatters of blood on him.

Satisfied, Kagome looked around a little more. Kouga was off to one side with several other demons and a couple hanyou. Kouga moved quickly, attacking with strong kicks, hitting one opponent several times, then moving on to surprise another.

Kagome took a quick glance at the entrance. It was still empty.

Miroku had a monk's staff in one hand and was pulling out small rectangles of paper from a pocket. Kagome wondered what they were momentarily. Miroku held it out in front of him, and flames formed, consuming several demons. _Real magic_, Kagome thought, impressed.

A quick glance at her area. Still clear. What could they be planning?

She spotted Jinenji. He flung his arms around and stomped about, looking like a gigantic hairless gorilla in Kagome's opinion. At his side, Shiori defended herself with a thin, short blade. Occasionally, she left herself quite open. Opponents tried to take advantage of that, but Jinenji always seemed to catch them off guard or block the attack.

Kagome was awed by the performance the two hanyou were showing, and stopped to watch a little longer after a quick look at the opening. She was amazed by the constant saves Jinenji was making. _Surely it must be wearing on him_, Kagome thought.

Shiori broke away, stepping a good twenty yards away from her protector. Jinenji was struggling against four demons and couldn't break off. Shiori turned to see where he was. A demon off to the side finished off his opponent and turned to see the young hanyou looking away. With a crazed howling laugh, he leapt towards the unsuspecting girl.

Jinenji saw this and tore away from his assailants. He caught Shiori and held her up away from harm. The demon who would have murdered Shiori stopped dead in his tracks, mouth agape. Jinenji smacked him, and the demon flew into the crowd.

The four demons that had been attacking Jinenji finished their job. As his attention was focused on his companion, they attacked as one, and Jinenji fell to the ground. Kagome could see the horrified look on Shiori's face as she knelt by her fallen comrade.

The four turned their attention to her. Before they could move towards her, Shiori had moved. Quicker than before, she took them out.

Kagome looked down. Jinenji was dead. He seemed so kind and gentle, but that didn't get him anywhere.

"Kagome, what are you doing? We got more on our hands!" Sango shouted, running by. She seemed to be headed up to the front of the fight.

Kagome's shock brought her back to the fight. She took a few more steps forward, looking back to her hole. Sure enough, more demons were coming through.

A loud roar split the air. Both sides froze for a second, looking for the source. The side of the mountain burst. From the dust that rose, a figure emerged. The mount looked like a wingless dragon with a stubby neck. From its back, Kikyou shot an arrow at the nearest demon.

The fighting resumed. Kagome rushed towards Kikyou, Shippou hanging on tightly. She felt a strong gust of wind from over head and looked up in time to see Kagura headed off in the same direction.

The wind sorceress sent a flurry of wind cuts at Kikyou. Kikyou responded quickly. While the demon she rode reared up, catching most of the assault, Kikyou shot two arrows. Kagome noticed that they seemed to radiate a light purple color. The first arrow missed her target, but the second hit Kagura smack in the chest.

The Wind Sorceress fell to the ground.

Kagome tried to press forward, but found her way blocked by feuding demons. An arrow thudded into the ground by her, and she looked up to see Kikyou smirking at her. Kagome glared back before retreating a little.

The fight continued. Kagome lost track of how her side was doing. She ran out of arrows around midday and set about finding some of them. There was a lull in the fighting, it was still raging, but both sides seemed to decided it was a good time for a break. Most of the demons on both sides slunk off. Kikyou was still going about on her mad rampage, a large group of demons surrounding her to keep her at bay.

Kagome decided it would be a good time to arm herself, so she picked up a fallen sword and went about looking for arrows. Shippou had told her she didn't need a sword, but it comforted her to have something. She had gathered a handful of arrows when it happened.

Kagome didn't register what had happened until she heard Shippou shriek. She realized she didn't feel him on her shoulder and looked around quickly. Nothing in front, she noticed and turned.

Shippou lay on the ground, a wound leaking blood onto the grass. A demon stood, brushing a small blueish flame aside. With an evil smile, the demon lunged forward. Kagome screamed and held the sword out. The demon impaled himself on the edge. Kagome let go of the hilt, picked Shippou up and ran back to where her group was resting.

She sat and tried to take care of Shippou as best she could. Kagome tried persuading herself that he wasn't dead, that if she cleaned and bandaged the wound, he would be all right.

"Kagome, there's nothing you can do," she heard Miroku tell her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Kagome shook her head, tears forming. However, she stopped what she was doing. She heard Miroku move off. A while passed before Kagome pulled herself back to the war.

"What does he think he's doing?" Miroku shouted.

Kagome looked up. "Who?"

"Inu Yasha."

Kagome stood quickly and walked over to Miroku's side. "Where?"

Miroku pointed. Kagome followed his direction.

Kikyou remained in a ring of demons, still on her dragonish demon. Inu Yasha and Kouga were sprinting to join in.

"What are they doing?" Kagome wondered.

Kouga disappeared amidst the rest of the demons. Inu Yasha stood out a little more with his silver hair. Then, he too, fell out of sight.

The dragon demon rose onto its hind feet. Kikyou fell off balance and struggled to maintain her position. Inu Yasha sprang up from the crowd, catching her and pulling her off. He landed in a roll on the other side, flinging Kikyou away from him.

Both rolled into a crouching position. Inu Yasha jumped back, shouting to the rest of his allies. Kagome only saw his gesture to get away.

Kikyou looked up to see her assailant. "Inu Yasha!" Kagome heard her shout from her position. Kikyou snatched her bow and an arrow and shot quickly. Inu Yasha jumped back, swinging the Tetsusaiga around to catch the arrow with the hilt. Inu Yasha moved slowly. Kagome, from her higher point saw that he was lining Kikyou up with her demon. _He wants to use that attack he used against Sesshomaru_, Kagome realized.

Kikyou shot a second arrow at Inu Yasha.

Inu Yasha swung the Tetsusaiga around. The Kaze no Kizu hit the arrow and seemed to explode into a whirlwind. It caught Kikyou, her dragon demon, and any others that had stayed behind. It dispersed after annihilating most of the area for a good hundred yards.

Comanderless, the demons of Youkaibo retreated. The ones Kagome was leading gave chase until the gaps in the walls, and then pulled back.

"Day one. Status, alive," Miroku stated.

Kagome shrugged. "Let's get some rest," she declared loudly.

……………

More to distract herself from her loss than anything else, Kagome strode around the camp. It seemed as if half of her followers had failed to return. Most of the demons and hanyou were helping their fellows with wounds.

_These ones are the ones that were able to make it back on their own_, Kagome mused as she watched three demons working together to wrap a large hanyou's cut.

"Kagome!"

Kagome turned to see Miroku running towards her.

"Miroku, what's wrong?"

"I can't find Sango. I thought she might be with you. Have you seen her?"

"No, I haven't."

Miroku closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm going to keep looking for her. See you later, Kagome." Miroku disappeared in the darkness, heading in the direction of the battlefield.

Kagome felt tears welling up and tried to suppress them. It wouldn't do any good for the commander to cry.

She continued on, weaving closer to where the fighting had taken place. She really hoped Miroku wouldn't find Sango out there.

Kagome gave out little compliments as she went.

Miroku came back. He had blood smeared on his face and his arms were soaked. Tears fell silently. He carried Sango with an arm around his shoulder.

Kagome rushed forward to meet him.

"It's no good, Kagome. You don't need to help me. She's gone. There were a bunch of demon corpses around her, so she died fighting. I know that's how she wanted to go. Don't worry. I'll take care of her."

Kagome found no words of comfort to give. She watched Miroku walk past, shift Sango's dead weight, and continue.

Refusing to succumb to her tears, Kagome continued her mission. A long while later, she spotted Shiori sitting on a small hill, bathed in moonlight, completely alone. Kagome walked up quietly behind the small hanyou.

Shiori glanced up at Kagome, and nodded. "Kagome."

"Hey. How's it going?"

Shiori shrugged. "I'm fine," she said quietly, not quite convincing.

Kagome understood how she felt. At this time, the best you could do was tell the rest of the world there was nothing wrong, that everything was fine, even though it wasn't.

"You know, it's lonely. Jinenji was always by my side. I've grown so used to knowing that there's someone next to me, that it feels so cold now. Jinenji was too soft for war. I don't think he could have lived with himself after this anyway. He was just too kind."

Shiori sniffled, hiding her eyes behind her knees. "Look at me now. I've spent my whole life trying to be tough. I've learned not to let humans see me cry. I have to be strong now, for Jinenji."

Kagome put an arm around the hanyou's shoulders. "It's ok to cry sometimes."

Shiori shook her head. "Kagome, did we win?" she mumbled after a few minutes.

"I don't know. It doesn't feel like it. I don't think it's over yet, though."

Shiori stood suddenly, eyes dry. "Then we'll fight again tomorrow. We'll fight forever if we have to, right?"

"I don't think…"

"We can't go back. We can only go on now."

"Yes."

"So we fight tomorrow."

"Yes."

"And the next day?"

Overcome, Kagome nodded.

"Until we can't fight any more."

Kagome nodded again.

"What a plan," Shiori muttered.

Kagome sat a little longer.

"Good night, Kagome," Shiori said shortly and descended down the hill.

"Night," Kagome whispered.

Kagome stayed where she was as the hanyou left her sight to blend in with the crowd below.

Shortly after that, Inu Yasha found her. "Kagome?" he asked, uncertain if she wanted to be alone or not.

"Inu Yasha?" Kagome replied, looking up backwards.

Inu Yasha sat behind Kagome and wrapped his arms around her. Kagome melted into him.

"We can't do this," Kagome started.

"Yes we can."

"No. We're loosing. I just know it."

"No we aren't."

"It feels like it. We lost Sango…Jinenji…Kagura…even Shippou. Shippou is dead," Kagome sobbed.

Inu Yasha remained silent, hugging her tighter.

"Why? Why does it have to be like this?"

"Youkaibo only knows force. It has the need to establish dominance, and it has to maintain it by force. And you wanted to go up against it."

"Why is it such a big deal that I left with you?"

Inu Yasha shrugged.

"I didn't want all of this to happen. I just wanted to leave that place and live freely with you."

"I know."

Kagome brought a hand up to brush away her tears. She stopped when she realized it was sticky with blood. "Inu Yasha, what is this?"

Inu Yasha's ears drooped slightly. "Blood."

"Inu Yasha, you're hurt?"

"Not me."

Kagome half turned. She touched her hanyou's side around where her hand was resting. Inu Yasha winced. "We have to get you fixed up. You can't fight like this."

"It's just a scratch, Kagome. Don't worry about me. I'm fine."

"You're bleeding."

"It's stopped. Don't worry."

"But…"

"As long as you're ok, I'm fine. Stop worrying."

Kagome relaxed, leaning her shoulder against his other side.

"Inu Yasha…are we winning?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"We were winning before this war even started. We're still free."

"Oh…right."

Kagome fell silent. Inu Yasha sat there the entire night while Kagome slept fitfully, dreading the oncoming morning.

……………

……………


	14. The Full Force of Youkaibo

A Single Strand

Chapter 14

The Full Force of Youkaibo

Sometime during the course of the night, Naraku had arrived with a final fleet of demon warriors. According to several of the demons, the new arrivals really didn't know how to fight before, but Naraku might have added to their program to make them battle worthy. It was then decided he was desperate.

Kagome had only caught a glimpse of Naraku during her time at Youkaibo. She had thought he had no distinguishing features, but when she saw him the next day, she knew she had been wrong. His eyes were violet and his features were so twisted they were almost inhuman. He seemed to enjoy the fact that he had been called down.

The second day of fighting was worse than the first.

Kagome had very few opportunities to try and shoot, she was confident that most of her shots could easily hit one of the demons on her side, so she held back, watching the fight.

Miroku, torn by grief at the loss of his wife, tore through the enemy demons like a wildfire in dry brush. He seemed to have lost his will to live and plowed through with little concern.

Kouga fought with the same determination that had driven him the day before, Inu Yasha next to him. Kagome thought they might be making a bet as to who could kill more enemies.

Shiori fought well for an hour. Kagome could tell the hanyou had almost forgotten the loss of Jinenji. There were several instances Shiori let her guard down and got hit for it.

Sesshomaru was a force on his own, single handedly taking on waves of demons.

From Kagome's position on the rise, she could almost believe they would win.

"How are we doing?" a voice asked from Kagome's side. Kagome looked down to see Rin, half hiding behind her.

"I think we might actually be winning."

Rin smiled slightly. She stepped forward to watch. Kagome pointed out Sesshomaru, and Rin nodded, watching.

"He's quite good," Kagome complimented.

"Yes. Thank you."

"I think he's fighting for you."

"Maybe. I don't think I have much to do with it. He's fighting because he's free now. I know that's what he wanted all along. Thank you for giving us an opening to gain it."

"It wasn't me."

"Sesshomaru-kun says it was, so I believe him. I shouldn't be here right now. He said I should stay back, away from the fighting."

"Inu Yasha said that to me too. But, I think they're right."

"You're in charge. If you hide while you're warriors are dying, you'll just be like Naraku."

"Yeah, I don't see him out there."

"He's not down there. He's hiding, issuing orders from the sidelines. What a coward."

Kagome fumed at that. If they could just kill Naraku, everything should be fine. With the head of the company gone, there would be no war.

"I'm going to leave now, Kagome. Bye!" Rin ran down the hill. Kagome turned back to the fight and saw a decent opening and shot an arrow. It hit the demon she was aiming for and it fell to the ground.

Everything seemed to be going fine. Kagome lost sight of Kouga, but Inu Yasha was still going strong. Miroku was annihilating anything that came his way. Shiori seemed to have picked up the pace. Sesshomaru was doing fine.

Then, the Inu Yasha's full-blooded counterpart froze and turned, earning him a hit from one of the several he was engaging. The one that hit him was instantly killed.

Sesshomaru seemed to be shouting, and he gave a gesture that meant go away. Kagome looked hard to see what he was yelling at.

Several more opposing demons leapt at him, and they were all cut down. Kagome watched, impressed at his speed and skill. Then, he froze once again. He walked slowly away and knelt on the ground, standing with something in his arm.

Kagome's brow furrowed. Sesshomaru was leaving himself defenseless? What could he be thinking? He looked around and walked quickly toward her. As he approached, she slowly understood what had happened. What he was carrying was Rin. The expression on his face –Kagome was shocked he _had_ an expression – was stunned confusion, pain, and anger.

Sesshomaru arrived shortly and set Rin down beside Kagome. He gently brushed some stray strands of hair away from her face.

Kagome had seen death enough that she could tell Rin was dead. She watched quietly.

Sesshomaru stood and turned quickly. "Watch after her for me," he ordered. Then, he was gone. Raw furry swept in waves about him. Several of the demons around him fell back, terrified. Sesshomaru attacked, forgetting grace and skill to cut down as many as he could. It wasn't long before a vast number of demons surrounded him, and slowly took him down.

Kagome watched sadly. This war was terrible. It was taking so many innocent lives, like Rin and Shippou. Who else would it claim? Where was Naraku? He was the enemy. Kill him and win. End the senseless killing.

While scanning the crowd, looking for Naraku, Kagome finally spotted Kouga. He was crouching, fending off a couple attackers. Kagome knew they were out of range, so she abandoned her position and joined the fray.

She ignored the rest of the fighting as she made her way to Kouga's side. Once she caught sight of him, she fired arrows at the demons attacking him. "Kouga, are you all right? What happened?"

"Kagome, what are you doing here?" Kouga tried to stand, but failed.

Kagome knelt beside him. His left leg had been cut badly above the knee and the rest was mangled. Kagome flinched sympathetically.

Kouga smirked slightly. "I kinda messed up."

"Yeah, no kidding."

Kouga turned serious. "You shouldn't stay here, Kagome. It's too dangerous."

"I have to help you."

"Forget me. Save yourself."

"I can't do that. What kind of awakener would I be if I left the demon I awakened to die? I already left you once, so let me make up for it."

"Kagome, that's behind me."

Before Kagome could respond, Kouga shouted, "Look out!" and jumped at her. Kagome fell. Kouga was hit in the side by a large spear and slid on the ground when he landed. Kagome pulled an arrow out and shot the demon who had thrown the weapon before turning to Kouga.

The wolf demon was sitting, spitting out blood. He grimaced at Kagome, trying to play it lightly. "Told ya it was dangerous."

"Kouga!"

"I'm done now, Kagome. Nothing left for you to save."

"Don't talk like that. If I get you out of here…"

"I won't make it."

"Kagome!"

Kagome looked up to see Inu Yasha hurrying towards her. "Inu Yasha, help me."

"Hey, mutt. Get Kagome out of here for me," Kouga half asked.

"I guess that means I win," Inu Yasha snapped. He caught Kagome's shoulders and pulled her up.

"Wait, Inu Yasha, what are you doing?"

"What he asked me to, and what I know I have to." Inu Yasha started ushering Kagome away.

Spitting out a little more blood, Kouga muttered, "I love you Kagome. It might just be because you awakened me, but I was glad to know you. Thanks."

Kagome heard. "No, Kouga!" She broke from Inu Yasha. The hanyou slashed out at a few demons that were trying to take advantage of their distraction, and snatched Kagome again. "He's a goner, Kagome. Let's go."

Reluctantly, Kagome let Inu Yasha take her back up to the hill. She sat next to Rin's body.

"Inu Yasha, don't leave me," Kagome whispered.

"I'm not going to leave you like that. No way in hell. Don't worry about me. I'll be back in a bit, got it?"

Without waiting for her reply, Inu Yasha rejoined the fight.

Kagome sat, no longer even interested in the battle. The empty feeling hole that had formed when Shippou had sacrificed himself for her had grown. She felt helpless and alone. She rubbed her neck, feeling the tiny marks Inu Yasha had made.

She found him in the crowd and watched him carefully until nightfall, when both sides retreated once more.

……………

That night was quieter than the last. The demons and hanyou remaining talked quietly amongst themselves, discussing strategy or how many opponents they killed.

Kagome opted out of her walk around the camp. She had had enough of the war. If she could, she wanted to pull out of it, but she knew that if she chose that, all of her company would die. At least this way, they had a fighting chance for survival.

Miroku had passed out near where Kagome sat with Inu Yasha. He had a few cuts, a ton of bruises, but nothing life threatening. It was a wonder he lived through the day with the way he had fought.

Kagome broke down and was crying quietly into Inu Yasha's chest. Inu Yasha sat with his arms around her, petting her hair.

After her sobs had subsided, she started drifting off to sleep. Inu Yasha shook her gently. "Someone's coming."

Kagome dried her eyes and turned to wait. A short span of time later, a young demon walked up. "Commander?"

"Kagome please," Kagome replied quietly.

"Kagome-sama. We think the best course of action to be taken is an assassination. I have rounded up a group of twenty to sneak into Naraku's camp and take his life."

_Do we still have enough that twenty is a small number?_ Kagome thought. If they were willing to risk their lives for the end, they could go. Kagome nodded. "Do what you will."

"Thank you, Kagome-sama."

"Good luck."

The young demon smiled, showing pointed teeth. "Who needs luck when you have skill. Assassination is my specialty. Thank you all the same. With your blessings we triumph."

The young assassin turned and disappeared in the shadows.

"He could have been a cute kid in a different life," Kagome mused.

"If kids come cute," Inu Yasha objected.

Later that night, the enemy camp was disturbed. None of the twenty assassins that set out came back.

……………

Kagome woke up the next morning, feeling half-rested and barely ready for the day ahead. Judging by the grumbles of complain from the rest of the crowd, she figured a lot of them felt the same. They set out and met up with the opposing force.

The fighting resumed with renewed intensity. With the first spilled blood, the demons awoke to their fierce nature. Kagome was more on the edge of the fight, picking out demons she didn't know and killing them, all the while looking for Naraku, who remained elusive as ever.

Until midday, there was no sign of Youkaibo's president. Kagome had worked her way inward when cries came from behind her. Turning, she realized they were sandwiched between Naraku's forces.

"Attack coming from both sides!" she shouted as loud as she could. The demons under her command snapped to stem the flow, but it seemed as if half of the opposing army had gone around to attack at their rear.

It was then that Kagome spotted Naraku. He stood away from the fight, watching the bloodshed with a joyous smirk.

"Naraku," Kagome whispered the name like a poison. She notched an arrow and sent it in his direction. The arrow seemed to decide it didn't want to hit such a powerful man and slipped away, landing in the ground behind him. Kagome continued to fight in the fray, keeping a close eye on Naraku.

Miroku broke out of the crowd to her left and ran forward, shouting, "Naraku!"

The dark haired man turned to him, and extended his hand. Small, chord-like bands formed out of his skin and shot at the fallen monk. They pierced skin at every spot they hit. Miroku was impaled and lifted off the ground.

With much effort, Miroku pulled out a paper talisman and stuck it to one of the cords that was stuck through his chest. The paper sparked to life, letting out a bright white light.

Naraku pulled back, letting the monk fall. There was a small burn on his hand. The head of Youkaibo smirked as he examined the wound. "That was pathetic."

Kagome gasped. "Naraku's a demon. We can't win."

Inu Yasha had been fighting next to Kagome. "Kagome, it's ok. He's not a demon. He's a hanyou," he said, putting his arm around his mate's shoulder.

"That doesn't make it any better. Did you see what he just did?"

"Yeah. But…he'll be easier to beat, seeing as he's a hanyou."

"You're a hanyou too, though."

"Yeah, but that's not the point."

"You're easier to beat, too, using your logic."

"Not the point."

"We can't win."

"Yeah we can. I'm going in. Are you with me Kagome?"

"We can't…"

"We can. Kagome…"

Kagome closed her eyes and shook her head slightly.

Inu Yasha gave her a pitying gaze. He gave her a quick kiss. "I love you." He turned and started walking away.

"Wait for me. I'm going to fight. Everyone else is. Miroku died to finish him, but it didn't work. But, we need a plan."

"Plan, shmlan. We'll wing it."

"But…"

"It's what I do."

"Ok…"

Still unconvinced, Kagome followed after Inu Yasha. The silver haired hanyou picked up his pace, closing the distance between himself and Naraku. Inu Yasha managed to move quietly enough that he avoided detection until he tried to strike. With a well-aimed swing, Inu Yasha tried to sever Naraku's head with the Tetsusaiga.

Inu Yasha met with an invisible force and was pushed back. Kagome stopped short, realizing it wasn't her arrow that refused to hit, Naraku was being protected by an invisible shield. She continued forward.

Naraku took notice of Inu Yasha and shot some of the bands at Inu Yasha. They hit the hanyou in the gut, pushing him back. Inu Yasha rolled to his feet. Already wounded in that area, Inu Yasha took a minute to recover. Blocking out the pain, he attempted the Kaze no Kizu. That, too, worthlessly bounced off the shield.

Naraku returned the attack, grabbing a hold of Inu Yasha's right arm and tightening. Inu Yasha dropped the Tetsusaiga. Kagome knelt and knocked an arrow. Taking careful aim, she let it go. It hit Naraku's cords causing him to let go of Inu Yasha. A second arrow followed. This one had a small bit of something silver around it, similar to Kikyou's.

The air in front of Naraku cracked, as if a car windshield was shattering. Inu Yasha charged forward, snatching up his sword. This time when the Tetsusaiga hit the barrier, the cover shattered. Before Inu Yasha's swing could make contact, Naraku picked Inu Yasha up and threw him away.

Inu Yasha bounded back. Naraku tried brushing him away, but Inu Yasha deflected him with the Tetsusaiga. With a furious look, Naraku switched targets to the more helpless Kagome. Inu Yasha dove into the pathway before the cords hit. Though he was hit, Inu Yasha sliced the bonds away.

"Inu Yasha?" Kagome wondered if her hanyou could continue fighting in this condition.

Inu Yasha coughed, a trickle of blood running down his chin. "I have a plan, Kagome. You need to shoot me."

"What?"

"You need to shoot at me. I want to make sure he's dead, so I want to use that attack I used against Kikyou."

"So you want me to shoot you?"

"Yep."

"Finally, a plan."

"You can do it?"

"Yes."

"Great. I want to get closer to him. Let's go."

Inu Yasha bolted forward. Kagome went in an arc, following Inu Yasha's destination, pulling out an arrow and snapping it onto the bowstring. Naraku attacked. Kagome was moving a little faster than he had thought, but he grazed her left side, arm and side of her face. Kagome was startled by the sudden pain, but focused on continuing on her way. Inu Yasha cut through the attack Naraku made at him.

"Now Kagome!" Inu Yasha shouted as he slid to a stop.

Kagome stopped as well, pulling her weapon up. She took careful aim and let it loose. Naraku's second barrage pierced through her chest and abdomen.

Kagome watched as Inu Yasha swung his blade. The start of the Kaze no Kizu connected with her special arrow and explode to the whirlwind of energy. That whirlwind connected full force with Naraku. Kagome fell to the ground and found that she had no ability to rise.

"Kagome," Inu Yasha reached her side and pulled her into his arms.

"Inu Yasha, did we do it?"

"Yes. Kagome, we did it! We won."

Kagome saw that Inu Yasha's golden orbs were filling up with tears.

"Fools!" the word echoed through the valley, stopping the fighting. Inu Yasha looked up, moving so that he could defend Kagome best. Naraku walked forward, disconfigured by the Bakaryu ha. "You think you have won? That you have defeated me? This is a lie. You all die here!"

And, saying so, Naraku burst into a purple smoke.

"It's poison. Don't breath it," Inu Yasha gasped, covering his face with a sleeve.

Kagome tried to listen, but the smoke seemed to enter her body from the gaping wounds and cuts. She cried out against the pain. Inu Yasha's grip around her tightened as he fell to the ground.

"Inu Yasha," Kagome whimpered.

"I'm here," Inu Yasha replied quietly.

"Before we die, I want you to know I love you."

"I love you too, Kagome."

"I'm kind of scared."

"Don't worry. I'm right here. Whatever comes next, I'll be right here beside you. There's nothing to be afraid of."

"I'm glad."

"They'll have a party ready for us. Sango, Miroku, Shippou, my Brother and his mate, even that mangy wolf."

Kagome smiled. "That'll be nice."

Inu Yasha smiled back. "Yeah. It will be."

Kagome went limp in Inu Yasha's arms. Tears slid down his face. Around him, any of the demons that had survived up to that point were falling to the ground, the poison working through their systems. He ignored their final words as they passed on, thinking only of Kagome. Then, it was his turn as well. He fell forward, the last of his strength going to falling sideways so he wouldn't crush Kagome.

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And as they had once been completely eliminated in the histories of the races, so were they expelled again. No trace left of either side was found, and nothing will ever be known. Youkaibo, leaderless, will crumble and fall with age. It is not yet known if another industry will rise to take that place. All that is known, however is that once again, demons do not exist.

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	15. Don't Go

A Single Strand

Epilogue

Don't Go

Kagome shook herself out of her trance. She realized that someone had been shaking her, calling her name in a voice that was heavy with worry.

Kagome's chocolate hues flashed to meet golden ones. Her eyes were filled with fear. "You must not go into the war, my lord," she cried. Tears formed and rolled down her cheeks.

Inu Yasha caught her as Kagome fell forward into his arms. His hands rubbed her back in attempts to comfort her. Her tears fell onto the rich silk clothing Inu Yasha was wearing.

After a short span of time, Kagome quieted down. Inu Yasha held her at arms length. In a worried tone, he asked, "And why not, my Beloved? What did my Seer witness that makes her weep like this?"

"If you go to the war, you will die. Everyone you bring with will die. You will all be eliminated."

"Death in battle is an honor, Kagome. Being a Seer, I wouldn't expect you to understand the privilege. But.. There's more to this. Will you tell me the rest, my Love?"

"I saw a very distant future, my Lord. At the end of the battle lays a very long eternity in Death. While humans are reincarnated, demons are not, due to their long life force. But, you will be resurrected, in a time far different from our own. A lot of your kind will be brought back. It will be by an unnatural means. We will meet once again, if this comes to pass."

Inu Yasha drew Kagome into his arms again, kissing her forehead. "Then it is well worth it, my dear. Any life where we meet will be worth it."

"Inu Yasha, it was terrible. The resurrected demons were tortured and enslaved by the humans. They were made to obey them, to fight for them, die for them. The humans were greedy with their creations, and were so cruel to them. I..." Kagome stopped, shaking her head. "And...then...after we were all united, we were ripped apart again. It was all to soon." Kagome slipped back into crying once more.

"I don't get it, Kagome. What is so terrible about that?"

"Everyone died again. There was a huge war, and everyone destroyed each other. Demon fought demons. You didn't see it." Kagome pulled out of Inu Yasha's light hold. "Close your eyes Inu Yasha. I will show you what happened in the future."

Inu Yasha obeyed Kagome's command. She put her fingers to his temple, and the select parts of the Vision flowed into his mind. A tear rolled down his face before he opened his eyes.

"Now you see, Inu Yasha, my Love. It is a terrible existence. Is it worth the honor to go into this battle? Is it worth leaving me, only to reunite for a moment in the far off future?"

"No, dearest. I shall give word to my brother, and the other kingdoms. All of us will go into hiding. And, though the humans wont give up, they will have a harder time finding us. I'll see about getting rid of Naraku too."

"Thank you Inu Yasha."

"No, Kagome. You have saved us from future torment. All of demon kin will have you to thank. And you have my thanks."

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A Single Strand – END-

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A/N: Ok, well, it's all done now. I want to thank all of the current reviewers for this fic, and anyone who took a look at it cuz this is the most hits I've had on a fic! Throws Confetti

Thanks to Anna Hiser, pyroblondie, priestessmykala, Take A Bow For Your Mistake..., and KiraLily. You guys rock. Oh, Special Thanks to pyroblondie, cuz she encouraged me to finish this one. Thank you Thank you!

Anyway, hope you enjoyed A Single Strand.


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